[matt_f]

I looked into the source of the above link and it's a collaborative git-managed team effort.

https://standardebooks.org/about

What an awesome project.

[adhesive_wombat]

Wikisource also has On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures[1] in their current Monthly "sprint"[2]

[1] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:On_the_economy_of_machi...

[2] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:Community_collabor...

[jackfoxy]

This is a good read documenting technology history in the first half of the 19th century. Babbage drew on his experiences trying to source manufactured parts for his Analytical Engine. At the time manufacturers just could not meet the specifications (tolerances) for the many mass-produced parts the project required.

I think by the end of Babbage's life the parts could have been manufactured, but by then both Babbage and his financiers had moved on.