Original Item: This is a collection of thirty one original, hand-drawn engineering drawings of various ordnance items, from torpedoes to magnetic mines to artillery projectiles and a large sectional drawing of the Belgian M1889 Mauser infantry rifle. The drawings were all drawn and signed by Jo. Tibesar and are labeled in both French and Dutch.

Several are one in color. Each one is drawn on lightweight vellum, the typical mechanical drawing material of the time, and all are backed by a sheet of heavyweight paper.

Section drawings is the original engineering term for what we call cross-sectional drawings, and Tibesar’s work shows the internal parts and structure of ordnance items belonging to both the Central Powers and the Allied Powers at the outbreak of the Great War.

We have never seen equivalent work anyplace else, in part because documents of this kind are considered to have a limited application period. In other words, once engineering drawings have ceased to be current, it is common for them to be obsoleted, or destroyed. It is much more unlikely that this collection of engineering drawings survived, because they were produced just before the Great War commenced, and The Total War process that was applied from the beginning of the Great War spared VERY little of the scientific, technical, and cultural material that existed before the War.

The total destruction of the famous Library of Louvain by the Germans in August of 1914 and its priceless, irreplaceable documents is an indicator of the value placed on both historical and technical documentation during the War. We believe these few originals must have been in the possession of a private individual at the outbreak of the War, or else they would have perished.

This set of original engineering drawings constitutes a priceless into the status of a wide range of ordnance material existing at the outbreak of the Great War. It is well worth noting that 2014 being the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War puts a premium on any technical date existing at that time.

List of WW 1 Ordnance Drawings by Jo. Tibesar

1. 34 x 23 Schema d’ensemble de la drage divergente Romarche

2. 19 x 25 PERCUTEUR A INERTIE

3. 27 x 14 Principe du fonctionnement du piston hydrostatique et du pendule theoretical

4. 24 x 35 Fig. 8

5. 22 x 20 KEGELS-CONES PRACTICE & COMBAT

6. 18 x 22 SOUPAPE D’ADMISSION A CAME

7. 26 x 49 SCHEMA DES DIVERSES FORMATIONS EN DRAGAGE

8. 21 x 13 APPAREIL WALSER

9. 21 x 18 DETECTEUR RIES

10. 27 x 32 MINE ELECTRIQUE ANGLAISE DE FILET

11. 48 x 35 Mines et torpilles sous-marines

12. 27 x 38 SOUPAPE DIFFERENTIELLE

13. 27 x 27 Cisaille a explosive

14. 18 x 32 Mines de blocus Fig 5

15. 44 x 33 POINTE PERCUTANTE

16. 47 x 37 COUPE D’UN RECHAUFFEUR A PETROLE ET A INJECTION D’EAU

17. 89 x 38 GRENADE TYPE ARTILLERIE, APPAREIL DE MISE DE FEU

18. 69 x 45 APPAREIL REGULATEUR D’IMMERSION DE MINE ALLEMANDE

19. 49 x 47 ENGIN FUMIGENE BERGER AVEC FLOTTEUR

20. 52 x 37 ALAGEMEEN VOORSTELLING TORPEDO MET WATERINSPUITING

21. 49 x 63 Mine allemande

22. 49 x 46 POINTAGE DEFINITIONS

23. 21 x 47 Machine Matrice Fig 13

24. 114 x 45 Belgian M1889 Mauser Rifle

25. 15 x 23 TUBE C

26. 36 x 44 MINE MECHANIQUE ANGLAIS A PISTOLET

27. 68 x 48 TYPE D’OBUS EXPLOSIF [Many artillery projectile sections]

28. 49 x 55 CENTRE BUIS

29. 74 x 48 [Many section drawings of artillery projectiles]

30. 74 x 49 CANON DE 8.8 CM

31. 22 x 13 ECOUTEUR WALSER DETERMINATION DU FOYER SONDRE