PLAYFAIR, John (1748-1819). Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, Edinburgh: for Cadell & Davies, 1802, 8°, FIRST EDITION (lacking 3 preliminary leaves, browned), contemporary half calf (rubbed, joints split) [Horblit 526; Norman 1717] Provenance: JCL; and a French translation of the same book (imperfect), together with Delamétherie's Theorie de la Terre (1795, 3 volumes). (5)

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PLAYFAIR, John (1748-1819). Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, Edinburgh: for Cadell & Davies, 1802, 8°, FIRST EDITION (lacking 3 preliminary leaves, browned), contemporary half calf (rubbed, joints split) [Horblit 526; Norman 1717] Provenance: JCL; and a French translation of the same book (imperfect), together with Delamétherie's Theorie de la Terre (1795, 3 volumes). (5)

Lot Essay

Playfair was a pupil of Hutton's and he rewrote Hutton's work which outlined his "Uniformitarian" theory of the earth. Playfair also noted that glaciers could transport large masses of rock and was one of the first to have a scientific approach to geology.

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