ARTILLERY. Manuscript, Moulage des bombes..., [ca 1785]; folio (37.7x24.8cm) of 4pages and 4ff. of drawings in ink, watercolor and wash. The manufacture of bombs and cannonballs, illustrated with 4 large watercolor plates. Each drawing sheet is accompanied by a facing page of text explaining the figures. The first three, entitled "Moulage des bombes", contain 15, 13 and 17 finely drawn and watercolored figures respectively. These figures depict a molding board and frame, a copper globe for molding bombs, the wooden parts used to mold a bomb handle, a cross-section of a frame, the molding of mushroom bombs, a spoon-layer, a cast-iron rasp for removing burrs, an iron fusee or shaft, the cross-section of a cast bomb, etc. Entitled "Coulage des boulets" ("Casting cannonballs"), the last leaflet contains 19 figures executed in the same way, showing cannonball casting shells and molding frames. The author could be François Désiré Courlet de Vregille (1732-1808), general inspector of the forges of Franche-Comté, Champagne and the Trois-Évêchés. Author of numerous works on artillery, he invented a new model of breech-loading cannon. This manuscript does not appear to have been published.