The first history of construction? A Mémoire by Jean Rondelet

In 1799 the Institute of France set as an essay, the history of construction from the earliest times. Jean Rondelet won the prize, in July 1808, with a 90 page essay, yet unpublished, that would seem to be the first attempt to write a history of construction. He investigated timber construction, stone building techniques, then building with bricks, sun-dried and kiln-dried, from Babylon onwards, through to the churches of Constantinople and Ravenna.