The politician Sir Henry Parnell (1776 1842) was instrumental in drafting legislation to improve the important road linking London with Holyhead in Anglesey, a major port for communication with Dublin. He was aided by the pioneering civil engineer Thomas Telford, and in 1833 Parnell published the first edition of this thorough work on road construction and maintenance. Reissued here is the second edition of 1838. Drawing on his experiences with Telford, who called the work 'the most valuable Treatise which has appeared in England' on the subject, Parnell outlines not only the rules governing the planning of a new road, but also addresses the practical aspects of building and repairing roads, noting the various tools and materials needed. Parnell, later Baron Congleton, also highlights the connection between road construction and national development, and includes a number of appendices relating to contemporary legislation on the subject of roads."

Prior to its publication in 1830, the draft of this work by Sir Henry Parnell, later Baron Congleton (1776-1842), was praised by John Stuart Mill, who said he could 'not see that it is possible to lay down the principles of political economy more broadly'. Chair of the select committee on public income and expenditure during the Duke of Wellington's first ministry, Parnell called for greater retrenchment and reduced taxation. He also argues here that 'the passage of merchandise from one state to another ... ought to be as free as air and water', denouncing the supporters of protection as 'among the greatest enemies of mankind'. A later pamphlet by Parnell, A Plain Statement of the Power of the Bank of England (1832), highly critical of the Bank's monopoly, is included in this reissue. His Treatise on Roads (1833) is reissued separately in the Cambridge Library Collection.