MISCELLANEOUS DISCOURSES CONCERNING THE DISSOLUTION AND CHANGES OF THE WORLD, wherein the primitive chaos and creation, the general deluge, fountains, formed stones, sea-shells found in the earth.

RAY, John.1627-1705. F.R.S,

Edité par London printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1692

A propos de cet article

TITLE CONTINUED: Subterraneous trees, mountains, earthquakes, vulcanoes, the universal conflagration and future state, are largely discussed and examined. FIRST EDITION 1692. 8vo, approximately 175 x 100 mm, 7 x 4 inches, pages: [28], 1-259, plus publisher's advert page, initial imprimatur leaf, contempory calf covers rebacked to match, gilt lettered green label, author's gilt name and gilt rules to spine between raised bands, new brown endpapers, original endpapers front and rear still present. Imprimatur page with indelible pencil title, author and initials, title page lightly dusty, edges of outer margin slightly ragged with ink signature to lower margin, 3 small neat repairs to margins, not affecting text, 1 tiny hole to page 97 affecting 1 letter to recto and verso, easily understood, pages tightly bound, all text legible, 4 ink letters to first free endpaper, pale age-browning throughout and occasional small fox spot, a good copy. First edition of Ray's most comprehensive treatment of fossils. 'During much of the 1690s Ray was engaged in correspondence with Edward Lhwyd and others about the nature of fossils. In general he was inclined to accept that they were the remains of once-living creatures, and he also suggested that their current distribution might owe something to observable changes in the nature of the surface of the earth. He qualified these opinions, however, by stressing that the fossils which had so far been discovered were not unlike known plants and animals, and that their burial might owe something to the action of the biblical flood, as well as to natural effects. He argued that those remains which seemed to be unfamiliar might represent species of which the surviving representatives had not yet been discovered' (ONDB pages 1744-1745); Geoffrey Keynes, John Ray, pages 107-116; Dictionary Of Scientific Biography, Volume xi, pages 313-318; ESTC: R14542. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: MISCELLANEOUS DISCOURSES CONCERNING THE DISSOLUTION AND CHANGES OF THE WORLD, wherein the primitive chaos and creation, the general deluge, fountains, formed stones, sea-shells found in the earth.
• Éditeur: London printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard
• Date de parution: 1692
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• Édition: Edition originale