MURRAY, Alexander.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The True Interest of Great Britain, Ireland, and our Plantations: Or, a Proposal for Making Such a Union between Great Britain and and Ireland, and all our Plantations, as that already made betwixt Scotland and England. First editions of the True Interest and Apology, second of the Letter & Remonstrance: together a lavishly illustrated work advocating a system of canals and reservoirs across Scotland, written some 20 years before the great age of British canals.Alexander Murray (c. 1684-1743) reports on the condensed network he had constructed in his own lands, emphasizing the benefits for irrigation and transportation. At Ardnamurchan, he devised a series of canals to channel water from the higher lands, and drained the lower lands in preparation: much of this work can still be seen today. Several of the plates depict similar techniques for managing water at high altitude. Murray had been a fervent supporter of Scottish independence and the Jacobite cause; after the failure of the 1715 rebellion, in which he fought, he diverted his energies into schemes for the economic development of his home country. The only entry for the True Interest listed on ESTC records that it was issued bound with copies of the Letter & Remonstrance and the Apology, as here. The Apology appears to have also been issued as a standalone pamphlet in 1741, while the Letter & Remonstrance was originally published with a 1739 imprint.

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