A systematic treatise on the theory and practice of draining land, &c. ... containing hints and directions for the culture and improvement of bog, moss, moor ... the whole illustrated by plans and sections
Edinburgh: University Press, 1834. Third edition, revised and enlarged, colored issue, 4to, pp. xi, [1], 250; 25 hand-colored plates (3 folding); a slightly worn but still very good copy in original diced terracotta cloth-backed blue paper-covered boards, printed paper label on upper cover, reading in part "Price 21s. plain: 25s. coloured;" includes the "postscript" on pp. [247]-250 which was subsequently printed; and laid in is a separately published and apparently unrecorded Critical Notices, with Analyses, of Johnstone's Systematic Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Draining Land [drop title], Edinburgh, 1835, 4to, pp. 10; self-wraps; stitched, as issued; some spotting to front page, extolling the work and including several lines from a letter of recommendation from Robert Stevenson, the pre-eminent civil engineer of his day and father of Robert Louis Stevenson. Includes sections on the embankment of sea-shores and rivers, and weirs and dams for the use of mills, all illustrated with 25 attractive hand-colored plates of dirt, grass, and water. Allibone notes that the book was first published in 1797, and that the last edition was in 1841 in octavo. Apparently this is the only edition with color plates, and we presume that much of the edition was not colored. Johnstone's theories, though popular and even influential in his day, have not withstood the rigors of responsible drainage. Item #46400
Price: $2,750.00
