Life of Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer, Written by Himself;

London: Near Lincoln's-Inn Fields;: James and Luke G. Hansard and Sons,, 1838. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Near Fine. Double Elephant - over 25 - 50" tall. TURNBULL G. PALMER R.H. CASEBURNE T.. Two volumes, including Atlas, First edition, 1838, complete. Both volumes in attractive modern dark brown half morocco over brown cloth, some blind tooling. Spines, raised bands, gilt tooling & titles, new endpapers. Internally, Vol 1, 1838, Text, half title, [5], (vi-xxiv), [1], 2-286, [3] contents appendix, [1], [1], 288-719 pp, 1 pl, 9 illustrations within text (2 of which are topographical, remainder engineering), new endpapers, occasional light spot, small chip to margin edge p319. (285*220 mm). Vol 2, Atlas, in 1838, portrait frontis, [4] (tp & pl list), 82 pls (of 83 - no 28 not called for on pl list, small margin edge tear to pl 40, sm worm track to top margin of 2 pls (.5 inch), paper repair to bottom edge of fronts. Plates include 6 maps, 16 doubles, 3 triples & 2 quads. Some occasional light spotting. (592*432 mm). (Stapleton, History of Civil Engineering p101; Gibb, Story of Telford p329; Singer History of Technology V4p546). Telford's beneficial influence is most alive today through his many surviving works, modern contract procedures, and the Institution of Civil Engineers as a forum of engineering excellence. Of Telford's surviving works, although leisure interest in his canals is increasing, his roads and bridges, for which he was aptly dubbed by Southey 'Colossus of Roads' and 'Pontifex Maximus' (Smiles, 476), now make the greatest contribution to society. L. T. C. Rolt, who was also the biographer of George Stephenson and Isambard Brunel, believed that Telford's 'achievement was as great as theirs and of equal historical significance' (Rolt, xi). ODNB.