[Parliament, Great Britain]

THE THAMES VALLEY DRAINAGE ACT, 1871 (34 & 35 VICT. SESSION 1871) [Privately bound with nine other related Acts, 1833 - 1871] [Association Copy]

London: 1833 - 1871. Mixed Editions. Quarto, 64 pages [alternating blank leaves], pp. [1133]-1164, pp. [209]-239, pp. [225]-256, pp. [425]-431, pp. [413]-416, pp. [261]-306, pp. [797]-800, 2 pages, pp. [861]-870; G-; Half-bound sheepskin and buckram boards, with black spine labels and gilt lettering to spine and front cover; Boards show moderate plus wear to corners, significant cracking and wear to leather along joints, and light wear overall; Back board and spine have separated from textblock, but all elements intact; Textblock has light age-toning to speckled edges; Numerous ink emendations in 18th-century hand, apparently by individual involved in drafting or implementing the Thames Valley Drainage Act; Possibly the hand of Robert Harding Milward, whose armorial bookplate appears on the front paste-down. RWO.

1365495

Special Collections

Price: $200

NOTES

A collection of ten acts passed by Parliament between 1833 and 1871, privately bound with holograph annotations in margins. Collection prefaced by the text of the Thames Valley Drainage Act of 1871, and all successive acts bound-in are related to the history and content of the 1871 Act. Appears to have been privately bound by Robert Harding Milward, a Birmingham solicitor whose career ended ignominiously in 1903 following revelations of fraudulent activity. His precise role, if any, in the authoring, passage or implementation is unclear, but presumably relates to his role as solicitor in the funding of public works projects.