Lazare Carnot, the father of Sadi Carnot who laid the foundations of thermodynamics with his 1824 monograph on the motive power of heat, authored the 1786 Essai sur les machines en général. Since Sadi Carnot is said to have used some of his father's ideas in his 1824 monograph, for historical reasons (at least) it would be interesting to read the 1824 monograph in view of the 1786 essai. Hence the question: is there an English translation? If so, where?
The 1786 work can be found online at the BnF: Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Scientific papers are useful for their ideas, not the text. In addition, these ideas evolve with time, so it's not useful, for understanding the technical content, to read the earliest papers on the subject. The only reason to read Carnot these days is for the history, not the technical content. Any textbook on thermodynamics will do.
The relevance of early papers was raised in a question on RG:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_it_worthwhile_reading_old_and_really_old_science_articles
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