An Essay on the Origin and Operation of the Dry Rot, with a view to it's prevention or cure. To which are annexed, suggestions on the cultivation of forest trees, and an abstract of the several forest laws from the reign of Canute to the present time. by McWilliam, Robert - 1818

59, Holborn, London: J. Taylor, 1818. Illustrated with three engraved plates, large quarto, pp xx, 420, edges untrimmed, some foxing and marking throughout, including the plates, original boards slightly worn, a later paper spine with the rather worn original paper label laid down, both paste-down endpapers wrinkled and lifting. [Apart from the foxing this is a stunning copy close to it's original state, wide-margined and unpressed. With the errata slip and directions to the binder at the rear. The subscriber's list accounts for 207 copies. There is an early London bookbinder's ticket on the front endpaper - H. Richards, Great Castle Street, Cavendish Square - and a manuscript note next to it "No 852" : might this suggest that there were a thousand copies printed ? Little is known of the author, an architect and surveyor of Furnivals Inn. His wife inherited half of her father's estate, and the development of North Street in London was pursued by the Scottish-born McWilliam. No buildings have hitherto been ascribed to him, apart from the handsome classically detailed terrace that is now Nos 2753 Northdown Street which was built in 1839 by McWilliam, who had plans in place for developing the entire estate by the time of his death in December 1842. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and his only public ation seems to be this one, dedicated to the 4th Duke of Gordon and subscribed for widely among members of the architectural profession. He became a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex towards the end of his life.]. First Edition. Cloth-backed boards. Very Good.