Acclaimed as a masterly exposition of the making of the much quoted, photographed, studied and loved townscapes of Georgian Edinburgh, A. J. Youngson's classic book recreates and examines one of the most comprehensive, detailed and remarkable urban expansion programmes ever undertaken. He describes the vigour of the planning debates, the fundraising schemes, the administrative and legislative infrastructure of planning, the construction of public buildings as poles of attraction for speculative building, and all the hopes, quarrels, victories and civic bankruptcy that went into this great experiment. Superbly illustrated with over 160 photographs and line drawings, this invaluable work of history is a fascinating account of the shaping of one of Europe's most beautiful cities.

'Absorbing, well-told, deeply researched story with near three-dimensional photographs' Sunday Times