Catalog Archive
Auction 182, Lot 56

"Ideal Section of a Portion of the Earth's Crust, Intended to Shew the Order of Deposition of the Stratified Rocks... [in] Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (Vol II only)",

Subject: Cartographic Miscellany, Earth

Period: 1837 (published)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
45.8 x 8 inches
116.3 x 20.3 cm
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This large-scale folding chart, by Webster and Buckland, shows the rock strata of the earth's crust. This was one of the earliest attempts to visually integrate Steno's principle of superposition with William Smith's use of fossils to identify the age of rock strata. The chart shows younger sedimentary rocks overlying older metamorphic and igneous rocks, and recent volcanic deposits above previously deposited strata. Buckland added 120 striking illustrations of fossil and living organisms, arranging them from left to right above the rock layers according to their presumed age. Dinosaurs, not yet named and recognized, are represented by a horned Iguanodon. A Dodo bird is shown, along with a note that it had not been found alive since 1691.

The map is still bound into volume two of Buckland's 131-page Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology with includes an additional 87 plates of fossils. Philadelphia edition. Octavo, hardbound in brown cloth.

References:

Condition: B+

Condition code is for the long folding plate, which is very good with some faint scattered foxing. The other plates have scattered foxing and occasional offsetting. Text is mostly clean and bright with an old library stamp on the title page. Hinges are starting a bit and the covers are moderately worn. Spine is sunned and the title label has mostly chipped off.

Estimate: $550 - $700

Sold for: $400

Closed on 4/28/2021

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