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4to (210 x 127 mm). viii, 9-51, 56-132, 133*-140*, 133-420, [16] pp., folding letterpress table, general index. Some mispaginations (pp.52-55 skipped, pp. 133-140 repeated). Signatures: A-F4 G2 H-Q4 R8 S-3H4 3I2. Bound in contemporary full calf, spine with 5 raised bands richly gilt in compartments and with gilt-lettered red morocco label to second compartment, boards with double ruling in gilt, board edges with blind tooling, red-sprinkled edges (rubbing to extremities, lower board scratched, endpapers with marginal brown-staining from printer's glue). Text with light even age-toning, but generally crisp and clean throughout; short clean tear to fore-margin of H2. Provenance: J. L. Boevey (inscription to first flyleaf); Sir William Strachan, 4th Baronet (armorial bookplate to front pastedown); from a French private mineralogy collection. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION of this work by John Hill in which minerals and their physical properties such as hardness, color, weight, surface texture and uses are arranged in a series of tables. Despite the somehow misleading title this book has noting to do with fossils in the modern sense. John Hill (1707-1775) was an English apthecary & naturalist. He conducted the British Magazine from 1746 to 1750 and contributed articles to various other periodicals. "Somewhat vilified by his contemporaries on account of his abrasive, highly competitive, ambitious character and scandalous behaviour, John Hill nevertheless made significant contributions to both medicine and geology. [. . .] His geological contributions made him a significant though much neglected figure in the Georgian history of the science. [. . .] Friendly relations, joint collecting trips and positive co-operation with the naturalist Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717-1791) degenerated to accusations of philosophical piracy and plagiarism over plans to produce a volume on ?fossils? (in the sense of any geologicalmaterial) after da Costa was elected FRS in 1747. In the event, two quite different works were published, with Hill beating the somewhat beleaguered da Costa to press. Hill?s A History of Fossils (1748), the first of a three-volume series on natural history, was followed by his Fossils Arranged According to their obvious characters in 1771 and a work on spars (1772). Characterised by a competent grasp of earlier literature, an innate desire to systematise an approach to geological materials somewhat emulating Linnaeus's approach to botany, Hill's geological works are replete with original observations and expressions of his personal opinions" (Duffin, p.11). The book is very rare. The last copy recorded at auction was sold 50 year ago (Sotheby's London, 4th Nov. 1974, lot no. 222). References & Literature: Christopher J. Duffin, John Hill (1714-1775) : a neglected Georgian Apothecary and Geologist. In: Geology and Medicine: Exploring the Historical Links and the Development of Public Health and Forensic Medicine" Celebrating the Tercentenary of Sir John Hill. London, 2014. - Visit our website to see more images! Seller Inventory # 003874
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