PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface by Reference to Causes Now in Operation.

London, John Murray, 1830.. FIRST EDITIONS, COMPLETE SET, 3 VOLUMES 1830-1833. 8vos, approximately 215 x 130 mm, 8½ x 5 inches, VOLUME I: engraved frontispiece, 1 engraved folding map, 1 engraved plate and 33 text illustrations; VOLUME II: hand coloured aquatint frontispiece, folding hand coloured map, 8 text illustrations; VOLUME III: hand coloured frontispiece, 4 engraved plates, coloured map, 88 text illustrations, pages: Volume I, xvi, [1]-511 including index, plus 1 page publisher's advert; Volume II, xii, [1]-330, including index; Volume III, xxxi plus Errata, [1]-398, [1]-110 - Appendix, Glossary and Index, plus 3 pages publisher's adverts, half-title in Volume I and III, not called for in Volume II, rebound at sometime in modern half crushed morocco, 2 gilt lettered labels and gilt decoration to spines, new pale blue endpapers, gilt top edges, gilt decorated dividing lines. Foxing to the black and white plates in Volume I with offset to pages opposite (see attached images), pale foxing to coloured map in Volume II, both colour plates are in good clean condition and the 4 plates in Volume III are clean, small hole in 1 lower margin, not near text, occasional fox spot or mark to margins, a very good set. "This work has been called the most important scientific book ever. A stunning claim, but certainly Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, published in 1830, shook prevailing views of how Earth had been formed. His book was an attack on the common belief among geologists and other Christians that unique catastrophes or supernatural events -- such as Noah's flood -- shaped Earth's surface. Lyell argued that the formation of Earth's crust took place through countless smaller changes occurring over long periods of time, all according to known natural laws. His proposal was that the forces shaping the planet have operated continuously throughout its history. He also wrongly assumed that these causes must have acted only with the same intensities now observed, which would rule out asteroid impacts and the like. Darwin read Lyell's landmark text while on the Voyage of the Beagle, and was much inspired by it. His own experiences during the voyage backed up Lyell's theories of how the shifting crust of the Earth was one of these long-acting, gradual, shaping forces". See: Hook & Norman, The Haskell F. Norman Library of Science & Medicine, Volume I, page 509, No. 1398; Printing and the Mind of Man, page 208, Chapter on The Theory of Evolution, No. 344; Dibner Library, Heralds of Science, revised edition, page 46, No.96; John Challinor, History of British Geology,page 106. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.