Scientist of the Day - T.G. Cumming

The Menai Suspension Bridge, designed and built by Thomas Telford, engraved frontispiece, slightly cropped, after a drawing by T.G. Cumming, in Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension Now Erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the River Conway, in North Wales; with Two Views, by T.G. Cumming, Surveyor, 1824 (Linda Hall Library)

T.G. Cumming has left few traces of his life as a surveyor. We do not know where or when he was born or died, where he lived or worked, or what else he did except write and illustrate a book, Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension now erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the river Conway, in North Wales, which was published in London in 1824. Since the Menai Suspension Bridge, one of the subjects of his treatise, opened on Jan. 30, 1826, we choose this day to celebrate Cumming’s book, which we have in our collection and recently scanned. We only know that Cumming was a surveyor because that is how he identified himself on the title page of his book (second image).

Title page, Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension Now Erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the River Conway, in North Wales; with Two Views, by T.G. Cumming, Surveyor, 1824 (Linda Hall Library)

The Menai Suspension Bridge was designed and built by Thomas Telford and is usually regarded as the world’s first suspension bridge. It spanned (and still spans) the 1400-foot width of the Menai Strait, which separates the island of Anglesey from mainland Wales. Telford began construction in 1819 and finished up early in 1826, on this very day, in fact. You can read more about the bridge and learn some details of its construction in our post on Telford.

The Conwy Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford, aquatint engraving after a drawing by T.G. Cumming, in Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension Now Erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the River Conway, in North Wales; with Two Views, by T.G. Cumming, Surveyor, 1824 (Linda Hall Library)

At the same time as the Menai Strait was being spanned, Telford constructed another suspension bridge across the Conwy River in north Wales. The Conwy Suspension Bridge shares certain structural similarities with the Menai Bridge, although cosmetically it borrows freely from the crenelated medieval Conwy Castle that sits at one end of the bridge (third image). We did not show any views of Telford’s Conwy Suspension Bridge in our post on Telford.

Original paper cover, Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension Now Erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the River Conway, in North Wales; with Two Views, by T.G. Cumming, Surveyor, 1824 (Linda Hall Library)

So was T.G. Cumming involved in the construction of either bridge? Probably not, since he published his book in London. But he did include two engravings in his Description, one of the Menai Suspension Bridge and one of the Conwy Suspension Bridge, both of which he drew himself. Since his book was published in 1824, two years before either bridge was completed, these are not drawings of the finished structures, and must have been completed in Cumming’s head, perhaps from Telford’s own drawings of the bridges as planned. We show both plates from Cumming’s book; the print of the Menai Suspension Bridge is a folding frontispiece (first image), while the plate of the Conwy Bridge sits like a bookend at the other end of the treatise (third image).

Detail of third image, aquatint of the Conwy Suspension Bridge, showing aquatint granulation and the signature of the artist, T.G Cumming, in Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension Now Erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the River Conway, in North Wales; with Two Views, by T.G. Cumming, Surveyor, 1824 (Linda Hall Library)

These are handsome engravings, as you have probably noticed, and one factor that contributes to their attractiveness is the fact that both are aquatints. Aquatints are produced from copper plates like ordinary line engravings, but they have a wax ground that is heated and crackled before being etched, producing a rich background texture. Aquatints were popular as book illustrations in England from the 1790s through the 1830s, when they were gradually replaced by lithographs. We show two details of the Conwy Bridge aquatint, so that you can get a better look at the unique granular texture of an aquatint, and also see where the plate was signed by Cumming, the artist (fifth image), and by Matthew Dubourg, who actually executed the aquatints (sixth image). Dubourg is a little better known than Cumming (he has a first name), but we are not going to pursue his career further here.

Detail of third image, aquatint of the Conwy Suspension Bridge, showing aquatint granulation and the signature of the engraver, Matthew Dubourg, in Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension Now Erecting over the Strait of Menai, at Bangor, and over the River Conway, in North Wales; with Two Views, by T.G. Cumming, Surveyor, 1824 (Linda Hall Library)

We nearly always mention in these posts when a book has been illustrated by aquatints. For some of the more spectacular examples, see our posts on Margaret Bryan, Leopold von Buch, Charles-Louis-Fleury Panckoucke, and Joseph-Paul Gaimad. The last, completed in 1855, marked the swansong of the scientific acquaint.

If anyone knows anything at all about T.G. Cumming, I would appreciate hearing from you. As a hint for would-be sleuths, I will mention that Cumming’s book was published by Josiah Taylor for the Architectural Library on High Holborn St. in London, and there is a catalogue of their publications at the end of our copy of Cumming’s treatise, beginning on pdf page 71 of our scanned copy. I did not see any further mention of T.G. Cumming there, but someone else might find leads that could be pursued.

William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.