WHISTON, William (1667-1752). A New Theory of the Earth, London: by R. Roberts for Benj. Tooke, 1696, 8°, FIRST EDITION, engraved frontispiece and 7 plates, engravings in text (accession stamp at head of A4, R5v soiled, section torn from outer margin of S2 with loss to marginal headings, contemporary panelled calf (spine worn) [Hoover 883; Norman 2229; Wing W1696] Provenance: Henry Poley of Badley, 1703 (bookplate); Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. William Whiston, written by himself, London: for the author, 1749, 8° (library perforation and stamps, light browning, I6r stained, occasional marginal tears), bound with -- Mr. Whiston's Account of the Exact Time when Miraculous Gifts ceas'd in the Church, London: for the Author, [n.d.], old marbled boards (worn at extremities and crudely rebacked). Provenance: G.E. Stechert, New York (bookseller's label) (2)

細節

WHISTON, William (1667-1752). A New Theory of the Earth, London: by R. Roberts for Benj. Tooke, 1696, 8°, FIRST EDITION, engraved frontispiece and 7 plates, engravings in text (accession stamp at head of A4, R5v soiled, section torn from outer margin of S2 with loss to marginal headings, contemporary panelled calf (spine worn) [Hoover 883; Norman 2229; Wing W1696] Provenance: Henry Poley of Badley, 1703 (bookplate); Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mr. William Whiston, written by himself, London: for the author, 1749, 8° (library perforation and stamps, light browning, I6r stained, occasional marginal tears), bound with -- Mr. Whiston's Account of the Exact Time when Miraculous Gifts ceas'd in the Church, London: for the Author, [n.d.], old marbled boards (worn at extremities and crudely rebacked). Provenance: G.E. Stechert, New York (bookseller's label) (2)

拍品專文

Whiston's New Theory of the Earth was an attempt to explain the events in the Mosaic account of the Creation in terms of the Newtonian theory of cometary motion. Although Whiston was strongly influenced by Thomas Burnet's Telluris theoria sacra (1681-89), he did not ignore the problem of fossils, as Burnet had, and tried to account for them as products of the deluge. Also bound into the second volume is a sermon by Thomas Sherlock.