Remarks on the Present System of Road Making with Observations Deduced from Practice and Experience, with a View to a Revision of the Existing Laws, and the Introduction of Improvement in the Method of Making, Repairing, and Preserving Roads, and Defending the Road Funds from Misapplication

vii, 236pp 24x15, boards, quarter bound with blue cloth spine, no text. Some foxing throughout, page edges rather roughly cut, some rubbing and edge wear to boards, title label previously glued to spine is missing, new endpapers. McAdam's revolutionary road construction technique, as outlined here, was originally published in evidence to a Parliamentary Enquiry in 1810. The first printing of this work was as a pamphlet in 1816 (and is extremely rare), and by 1827 had run to nine editions and had expanded considerably.Loosely inserted is a cutting from the Swindon Advertiser of 1956, marking the 200th anniversary of McAdam's birth and advocating the ripping up of Britain's railways to be replaced by new wider roads. That the local newspaper in the town more or less built by the Great Western Railway has taking such a line was a very clear sign of the times - Brunel was probably turning in his grave.