Buckland, William; Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology. London, W. Pickering, 1836. Quarto, vol. 1, pp. xvi, 596 and supplementary notes pages 597-599, errata. Vol. 2, pp. vii, 100, 87 plates (numbered to 69 with some in multiple parts, some folded and hand-colored).

The set is complete and in a contemporary full paneled calf with gilt ruled borders, gilt spine titles, six gilt spine panels, marbled end papers and matching text block edges. Original owners coat of arms on paste down (Thomas Parry) and covers. The bindings are tight and clean with archival restoration to inner hinges, text is very clean and crisp, some plates have light foxing on verso of plates and along an outer margin. Over all in very good condition.
FREE SHIPPING ON ALL BOOKS

Buckland (1784-1856) an English cleric, geologist and vertebrate paleontologist was the first Reader of Geology at Oxford beginning in 1819. His contributions to English geology are numerous and include the first published description of dinosaurs which Buckland called Megalosaurus or Great Lizard. Buckland was a leading member of the geological community which tied theological doctrines to geological concepts. His importance lay "in helping to redefine the nature and method of a geological explanation". Buckland and other geologists wished to produce detailed explanations that would in effect constitute a geological history, period by period, of the events of a given locality. In so doing, Buckland was one of the scientists who established British geology, based on careful analysis of local stratigraphy with the addition of fossil evidence. The above set is his classic geological and paleontological textbook. First published in 1836, Buckland added further "supplementary notes and index" in an 1837 edition.