Originally Posted by rivett608

You might want to take a look through this....

Abell,Leggat & Ogden "A Bibliography of the Art of Turning & Lathe & Machine Tool History"

This is the most complete source of early books that mention the lathe..... I am away from my office so I can't look through mine... it can be had (I think still) from these folks...

http://www.the-sot.com/

And for some reason I think Plumier mentions a earlier book on lens grinding or cannon drilling in his L'Art du Tourner, 1701.....