Thomas Tredgold (1788 1829) has been described as 'the most influential technical author of his generation and possibly of the nineteenth century'. His writings contributed greatly to the wider understanding of engineering, and it is his definition of civil engineering that the Institution of Civil Engineers wrote into their charter of 1828. Published in 1827, this work provides a historical survey and explanation of 'a masterpiece of human contrivance'. Tredgold breaks his subject down into ten sections, each covering areas such as the properties of steam, the differing means of harnessing its power, the history of the steam engine's invention and improvement, and the various applications of steam power. Containing many tables, formulae and line drawings, this thorough work complements Charles Frederick Partington's Historical and Descriptive Account of the Steam Engine (1822), which is also reissued in this series."

Although cast iron was used in pagoda construction in ancient China, it was in Britain in the eighteenth century that new methods allowed for its production in quantities that enabled widespread use. An engineer who had educated himself tirelessly in technical subjects from carpentry to architecture, Thomas Tredgold (1788 1829) first published this work in 1822. It served as a standard textbook for British engineers in the early nineteenth century, and several translations extended its influence on the continent. Reissued here in the fourth edition of 1842, edited and annotated by the structural engineer Eaton Hodgkinson (1789 1861), who presents his own research in the second volume, this work addresses both practical and mathematical questions in assessing metallic strength. In Volume 1, wherever progress has been made since the original publication, Hodgkinson adds notes to Tredgold's original text, pointing out certain errors."