Newman, John
Scamping tricks and odd knowledge occasionally practised upon public works. Chronicles from the confessions of some old practitioners. New impression.
London, E. & F.N.Spon 1908.
Full Description
8vo. viii + 129 + (1)pp, 52pp publishers’ adverts. Publisher’s cloth. Old pencil ownership inscription of J.W.Allison.
Amusing insights into the shadier aspects of public works construction, as set out in an imaginary conversation between two former employees of civil engineering contractors. Chapters illustrate by anecdotal narrative the possibilities for fraud in pile driving, bridge and tunnel construction, concrete work, brickwork, and so on. The book’s author, John Newman, had civil engineering experience going back to the 1870s and the conversations which he recounts have a distinct, if morally depressing, ring of reality. The present copy is of a “new impression” of a title first published in 1891.