New Acquisitions Spring 2022 – 28 – Bauman Rare Books The Foundation Of Modern Geology, Hutton’s “Theory Of The Earth,” 1788 First Edition, With Two Engraved Plates 32. HUTTON, James. Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws Observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe. BOUND WITH: The Theory of Rain. Edinburgh, 1788. Quarto, modern marbled wrappers, original printed paper label laid down. $10,500. First edition of Hutton’s landmark paper, the foundation of modern geology, excerpted from the Transactions of the Edinburgh Royal Society, with two engraved plates. Bound with another Hutton paper from the same volume, “The Theory of Rain.” “His fundamental conception—now accepted as a matter of course, but then entirely new—was the doctrine of uniformitarianism. The formation of the surface of the earth is one continuous process which can be studied entirely from terrestrial materials without cosmological or supernatural intervention” (PMM). “Hutton’s theory ran counter to the belief then widely held that the present world was created by a divine being, fully populated by animal and plant life, at a time that could be measured by human records” (DSB). “Hutton’s theory… was first made public at two meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, early in 1785. The society published it in full in 1788, but offprints of this paper were in circulation in 1787, and possibly in 1786” (DSB). With eight-page Strahan and Cadell publisher’s catalogue, dated 1788, bound in at rear. Pastiche of title page, with mounted title and engraved vignette preserved. Bound with half title and four pages of contents for Volume I. Norman 1130. Occasional spots of foxing to text, especially to first few leaves, plates clean. Near-fine in later wrappers. “Hutton’s two-volume Theory of the Earth… firmly established him as one of the founders of modern geologic thought.”—Britannica
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