JESSOP, William & MYLNE, Robert Reports of the engineers appointed by the Commissioners of the navigation of the Rivers Thames and Isis to survey the state of the said navigation, from Lechlade to Days Lock. Illustrated by a plan to which are added some orders of the commissioners on the said reports and an account of the tolls payable on the said navigation from Cricklade to Stanes. (London) 1791
8vo. 60pp, large folding engraved plan. Marbled boards. Skempton Nos. 743, 966. As the Thames & Severn Canal neared completion, the Thames Commissioners began to consider means of improving the navigation between Lechlade and Oxford in order to accommodate the traffic from this canal, which joined the river near Lechlade. An act to carry out the necessary improvements was passed in 1788 and Jessop, the leading engineer of the day, was asked to survey this stretch of the river and to recommend what should be done. By 1791 the first stage of the work had been carried out but by then Jessop was engaged on other projects and Robert Mylne, well known for Blackfriars Bridge and for his unrivalled knowledge of hydraulic engineering, took over. The present group of material includes both of Jessop’s reports and the first of Mylne’s, and very impressive reading they make. They are all highly practical in approach and clearly show the perils and delays in a navigation reliant upon flash locks and hampered by severe lack of water during dry spells. Jessop was largely concerned with the navigation between Oxford and Lechlade, making a number of recommendations, including new pound locks. Mylne’s report was divided into two parts, the first highly critical of Jessop’s approach and the work that had been carried out, while the appendix gives details of his own survey and recommendations. The three reports, both of Jessop’s dating from 1789, were published together in 1791 and, despite the differing Skempton numbers, were never issued separately.
£650
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