Siluria: The history of the oldest fossiliferous rocks and their foundations; with a brief sktch of the distribution of gold over the earth.
by MURCHISON, Roderick Impey
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
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Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
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About This Item
MURCHISON, Roderick Impey. Siluria. The history of the oldest fossiliferous rocks and their foundations; with a brief sktch of the distribution of gold over the earth. Third edition with maps and additional illustrations.
London, John Murray 1859
Thick quarto, 9.3 x 6ins, fine original blind stamped brown cloth by Edmonds & Remnants, London with their printed label, spine lettered gilt, upper cover gilt, pp.xix + (1)errata +592 + Figures of the principal Silurian fossils XLI plates with separate descriptive text + 32pp adverts dated January 1859, with the folding Geological Map of the Silurian Rocks in pocket at the end, engraved coloured frontispiece of Loch Assynt, tabular diagram on p.157, folding sketch map on p.522, numerous woodcuts in the text throughout, faint damp stain on last few leaves, printed bookplate on inner blank of booksellers Friedrich Klincksliek, 14 rue de Lille, Paris, a fine copy.
Dibner, Heralds of Science, 97. Geikie, The Founders of Geology, p.420. Zittel, History of Geology & Palaeontology, pp.432-438. DNB, XIII, 1214.
Third edition of a work which has become a landmark in geology. Murchison (1792-1871) had taken up the study of geology late in life and had become friendly with Charles Lyell and Adam Sedgwick. In 1831, following an attempt to resolve the problem of the structure of the Alps, Murchison turned to the classification of the greywacke rocks along the border of Wales; he believed they could be grouped into a definite order of succession. The result of this work was the establishment of the Silurian System under which were grouped for the first time a remarkable series of formations, each with distinctive organic remains older than and very different from those of other rocks of England. These researches were published in this book. The establishment of the Silurian System of grouping geological formations found elsewhere was followed by the introduction of the Devonian System and the application of both systems to the geology of the Rhineland, the Urals and the Highlands of Scotland.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 289
- Title
- Siluria
- Author
- MURCHISON, Roderick Impey
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Third
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- John Murray
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1859
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Geology Dibner
Terms of Sale
Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
About the Seller
Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
About Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
Rare book specialist Hamish Riley-Smith, who died on August 10, did not originally intend to become a dealer.
He went to Trinity College Dublin, where he read economics and met our mother Brigitta (Gita) von Wagner. He planned to work in the family brewing business, John Smith's, and spent seven years learning the craft at Whitbread's. But after all the family interest in John Smith's was sold in 1972, he looked for a new career.
In 1974 he started Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books. He had no formal training in the book business, other than an acute awareness of business and a degree in economics. He started, in his own words, as a runner, taking one book to another dealer and making a small margin.
Hamish quickly realised this was not for him and started to focus on Arabic and economic books and the social sciences. Through knowledge and research he built up a strong and friendly working relationship with the Japanese, travelling to Japan often. He also traded in Arabia, the US and Europe.
Sacks of catalogues
We can remember how sacks of catalogues would leave the house and go off to museums and institutions across the world, and answers would come back via telex. This was a world before the internet, mobile phones and faxes and computers were only just coming in.
Among his proudest sales were the 14th century Qur'an manuscript of Mameluk Sultan Al Malik Al Nasir Muhammad (pictured here); The Papers of Sir Roy Harrod; The library of Sir John Hicks; The Betjeman Library; typescript/manuscript of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractus Logico Philosophicus; The Felibriges Library of Musée Theodore Aubanel, Avignon; as well as collections of Isaac Newton; John Locke; Thomas Hobbes; Shakespeare; William Petty; Robert Owen and Adam Smith.
He was resolute in his independence and had many friends and colleagues in the book business, but he never did a book fair ("I am not a book fairy") and refused to join any trade associations.
He will be remembered by the family as a loving husband, father and grandfather, and a great source of fun and interest; for Hamish, above all, family came first. His business will continue to be run by his wife Gita and two sons, Damian, director of Paragraph Publishing, and Crispian, director of Crispian Riley-Smith Fine Arts Ltd.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Quarto
- The term quarto is used to describe a page or book size. A printed sheet is made with four pages of text on each side, and the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....