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From our current stock of books for sale:

[TELFORD, Thomas]

[1st to 8th] Report of the Commissioners for making roads and building bridges in the Highlands of Scotland.
(London), 1804, 1805, 1807, 1809, 1811, 1813, 1815, 1817

Description
By the end of the 18th century, the Highlands of Scotland was one of the poorest, least cultivated and remote areas of the British Islands.

The scheme to revolutionize its communications and increase its prosperity was one of the first major civil engineering projects to be government funded and administered. The hundreds of miles of roads with a multitude of associated bridges in stone and in iron, together with piers to improve inter-island links, were carried out by Thomas Telford following the findings of two surveys he carried out in 1801 and 1802. The act of parliament was passed in 1803.

From 1804, the government Commissioners produced a series of progress reports, each one accompanied by a fine map. The reports also contain comprehensive appendices giving a wealth of detailed information on the running of the project. Included are Telford’s own reports on the various stretches of road, his specifications for bridges, forms of contract, proposed harbour improvements, accounts and so on.

This set comprises the first eight reports covering the years between 1804 and 1817, by which time nearly 900 miles of road were either completed or under construction in some of the most difficult and inhospitable terrain in the country.

Collation

Small folio. 8 reports in 1. 19 + (1)pp + (32)pp mis-numbered 13-44, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured ; 45 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 95 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 95 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 65 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 67 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 59 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 59 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured; 81 + (1)pp, fine folding engraved map, hand coloured. Quarter calf.

Price

£250.00

Catalogue No: 5823