Francis Ronaldson was appointed Assistant Surveyor in 1786 and General Surveyor in 1789. His journal book records his many journeys throughout Scotland, inspecting and establishing post offices, investigating complaints, instructing postmasters, and making surveys for the extension of the mail coach services. It also includes his quarterly accounts of expenditure on these journeys. A watercolour caricature of Ronaldson and some biographical notes on him taken from John Kay, ‘A series of original portraits’, have been added on the front endpapers in a nineteenth-century hand. Pasted inside the back cover is a letter, 1888, offering the volume for sale.