An Account of the Improvements on the Estates of the Marquess of Stafford, in the Counties of Stafford and Salop, and on the Estate of Sutherland. With Remarks.

London: Longman, Hurst ...., 1820. First Edition. Original publisher's grey paste paper boards.. Good; untrimmed; partially unopened; text block split; covers present but detached; small inst. stamp to the blank margin of the last leaf and the rear endpaper.. 8vo, xx, [1] - 236, [1] - 118, 4 (adverts) pp. + folding color outline map as the frontispiece & 39 plates - some in color - mainly plans and elevations of buildings.

A superb history of the removals from the highlands and the introduction of sheep husbandry. "Loch's career was most publicly (truncated) known for his part in the great and controversial changes implemented on the highland estates of the Sutherland family from 1812 onwards. The policy predated Loch but he gave it greater clarity and direction. He presided over some of the largest clearances and then spent much of his life in defence of the consequences. He believed that the highlands had been locked in feudal squalor and its people effectively enslaved under the old highland middlemen. They had been kept poor and were ravaged by recurrent famine. His mission was to release the resources of the highlands and open the region to trade and improvement. This meant the removal of the tacksmen, the introduction of commercial sheep-farming, and the relocation of the small tenantry to the coasts. His management of the Sutherland estate was excoriated as 'the Loch policy' for its inhumanity to the people who were ousted from the inland districts and replaced by sheep. The removals often required strong-arm methods which generated widespread opprobrium. Since Loch became the principal apologist for the Sutherland clearances he also attracted much of the public abuse." (DNB) (Inventory #: 22080)