[Continental Drift] [Geology] Our Wandering Continents: An Hypothesis of Continental Drifting [Stephen Jay Gould's Copy] by TOIT, A. L. du (Alexander Logie, 1878-1948) - 1937

Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1937. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good+/Near Fine+. First Printing of this scarce early work supporting Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift, from the library of Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, with his book plate denoting provenance. Demy 8vo (222 x 140mm): xiii,[1],366,[2]pp, with 48 full and partial page maps, diagrams, and charts (a few folding). Publisher's coarsely woven red cloth, spine stamped in gilt. Trivial spotting to paste-downs, jacket lightly creased along spine panel, brief edge wear expertly restored, else a Very Good or better example, tightly bound (front hinge cracked but holding) and clean throughout, with significant previous ownership. In 1923, du Toit traveled to South America to study the geology of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, and to test his theory of correspondences between the geology of that continent and Africa. He published details of the stratigraphic and radioisotope evidence from those regions in 1927 ("A Geological Comparison of South America with South Africa") that supported Wegener's theory that North and South America once formed a single land mass with Eurasia and Africa, and that over geologic time, the earth's continents have moved relative to one another into their present configurations. This book, du Toit's best-known publication, expanded upon that work and, departing somewhat from Wegener, proposed the existence of two original super continents separated by the Tethys Ocean, a northern/equatorial "Laurasia" and a southern/polar "Gondwanaland." Geologists scoffed: the review in the American Journal of Science was barely a paragraph long, and belittled du Toit's research work as "not even wrong." (See James Lawrence Powell, Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences). N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).