Three physico-theological discourses, concerning I. The primitive chaos, and creation of the world. II. The general deluge, its causes and effects. III. The dissolution of the world, and future conflagration

The Princes Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard: Sam Smith, 1693. Second edition. With four engraved plates, small octavo, t.p., 20,132,[6], 133-406, + 2-page publisher's catalogue, browning and age-toning with occasional blotching, a corner torn from the first blank, a worm-hole in the margin of the early pages but only really noticeable on the first eleven pages, tight internally, original calf, rubbed and pocked, neatly re-backed with new unlettered leather spine, the original endpapers retained. [In Ray’s time understanding of creation was governed by the account in the Bible. It was thought that the earth dated from about 5000BC and that fossils were formed in nature as imitations of shells, fish or other creatures, but were not a genuine creature. Ray’s observations of the changing coastlines around Britain and his fossil excavations led him to question both of these. He published his work on Fossils in his ‘Miscellaneous Discourses’, 1692. The work quickly sold out, and a considerably enlarged second edition, with a new title, was published the next year, which is the copy we offer here . In particular, he put forward that fossils were the remains of creatures that were now extinct, going against the commonly held view that all creatures that God created at the beginning still existed.]. Second edition. Full Leather. Good.