PLAYFAIR, John (1748-1819)

Explication de Playfair sur la théorie de la terre par Hutton , et examen comparatif des systèmes géologiques fondés sur le feu et sur l'eau, par M. Murray; en réponse à l'explication de Playfair: traduit de l'anglais, et accompagnés de notes et de planches, par C. A. Basset

Paris: Bossange et Masson; A Londres ... aux dépôts de Livres français établis par Bossange et Masson; et par Leblanc, 1815.
8vo, pp. xxxiv [2] 424; [2] iii [1] 196. Plates: 2 plates: numbered Part. Ière Pl. I--II, a single page plate signed 'Delineavit Basset 1815 Amb. Tardieu Sculp.' and a double-page plate, unsigned, with four views (I as frontispiece, II as double page spread between text and prelims of part 2). Leaf size and condition: 203 x 127mm. Title very lightly dust-soiled. Binding: Original orange wrappers with printed paper spine label. Worn, label rubbed with some loss. Provenance and annotation: Inscription 'Conthieu[?] et fils.' on title; Duncan McKie (1930--1999), purchased from Wheldon and Wesley, 1973. References: Linda Hall 42; Ward and Carozzi 1798.
First edition in French, an annotated translation of Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the earth (1802) and John Murray A comparative view of the Huttonian and Neptunian system of geology: in answer to the Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the earth, by Professor Playfair (1802).
§ Playfair's work, which 'helped to create the modern science of geology' (DNB) is an elaboration of Hutton's uniformitarian theory, and it was largely responsible for the theory's acceptance. Basset's French translation of Playfair's work places it in juxtaposition with the 'admirably well-balanced' opposing work by John Murray, published anonymously in the same year (see Laudan, From Mineralogy to Geology, p. 122). Pages 191--6 are the translators notes on the basalt formations of Staffa which are illustrated in the 4 views on the second plate.

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• libraire: Roger Gaskell (GREAT BRITAIN)