THE BEAUTIES & WONDERS OF NATURE AND SCIENCE: A Collection of Curious, Interesting & Valuable Information, for the Instruction & Improvement of the Enquiring Mind

Blind-stamped black cloth with gilt lettered and decorated sp. and small central image of train to fr., surprisingly good for age but some corner bumping and a few tiny white flecks. t.p. engraving very early type train, with tanned tissue guard, t.p. with central engraving of 'The Peak, Derbyshire' + iv + 280, un-numbered full page engraved plates ex-pagination throughout, some across full opening; the main internal fault is some fairly light but extensive tanning patches, p.o. sig to fr. end-paper above circulat, barely visible impressed ex-lib. stamp of Derek Gair Gibson (eminent cardiologist, d. 2021), 1.5 cm hole to fr. gutter, verso rear end-paper has some money totting sums towards top, otherwise internally clean and tight, all edges gilt. Undated but c. 1840, latest date I spotted in text was 1836 and railway train images depict types from this period. Covers a very wide range of miscellaneous topics from astronomy to St. Paul's Cathedral, the aqueduct of Segovia to the theory of clouds. Oddly the plates showing relative sizes of planet do not include Uranus. 14 cm x 22 cm.…