Preliminary Studies for H.M. Factory, Gretna and Study for an Installation of Phosgene Manufacture. [Edited by William Macnab; Foreword by Lord Moulton.]

Bookseller Notes

A superb association copy: Kenneth Bingham Quinan, the American/South African chemical engineer, whose ownership stamp adorns the front pastedown, was the pre-eminent explosives technologist of his generation, at least in respect of the Allies, principally for his visionary work in the design, construction and operation of munitions factories, such as that described in the present work - H.M. Factory, Gretna, covering 9000 acres and the largest of its type. Quinan was made a Companion of Honour, declining the knighthood offered on the basis of his US citizenship, and given the Croix de Guerre. He returned to South Africa at the end of the War, with Lloyd George declaring in the House of Commons that it 'would be hard to point to anyone who did more to win the war than Kenneth Bingham Quinan'.The publication of these studies in a post-war setting is, both Moulton and Macnab explain, for the continuing profit of the nation: 'a large amount of technical information has been produced and collected by Mr. Quinan and those immediately associated with him, and it was felt that as much as possible of this information should be made available to the public' (p. xi). Macnab's opening remarks describe Quinan's methodology, establishing at the head of the work the general nature of his legacy providing inspiration for future chemical engineers to adopt and adapt the innovations of his war-work in the service of peace-time industry.