The chronology of creation; or, geology and scripture reconciled.

HUTTON, Thomas.

Published by W. Thacker and Co. (back of title-page and colophon: printed by J.C. Sherriff, Bengal Military Orphan Press),, Calcutta,, 1850

About this Item

Rare first edition of a very rare geological and natural theological work, written by Thomas Hutton, Captain in the Bengal Army, discussing the chronology of the creation and history of the earth from a geological, but also a theological perspective, by refusing the more liberal ideas of William Buckland (1754-1856) on earth s history and species development. Buckland in his Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology (1837), proposed a progressive development from an initially hot earth, showing a continuous transmutation and evolution, but also the progress of organic life. Hutton, a strict Biblical literalist, rejects Buckland's theory of successive creations. In the present work, he challenges Buckland by proposing that God created the earth only from materials intended for that purpose, and not from any materials of worlds preceding the earth, as if our earth arose out of the "ruins" of former worlds. Hutton's views on the creation of earth and organic life are collected in the present The chronology of creation, an attempt to reconcile geology and the Bible (in particular Genesis) again in a period when evolutional theories and more liberal ideas on earth history and species development were upcoming (he wrote nine years before Darwin s On the origin of species). The two orthographic views of the earth show it first entirely covered by an ocean, then with the first land appearing, while the cross-section shows his idea of the earth s interior structure and a theory of volcanos.With an owner's inscription on the half-title by Wilfred R. Barker, dated 14 April 1917. Binding slightly worn and soiled, some stains on the first leaves, but overall a good copy of a very rare first edition printed in Calcutta.l WorldCat 8771052 (8 copies). Contemporary green cloth, blind-ruled frame and blind-stamped centrepiece and corner pieces on both boards, title in gold on the spine. With a coloured lithographic frontispiece of a camel, lithographed by T. Black at the Asiatic Lithographic Press in Calcutta, and 3 coloured lithographic plates illustrating Hutton s theories about the creation of the earth (2 orthographic azimuthal projections and 1 cross-section). Pages: [2], XVI, [2], 503, [1 blank] pp. Seller Inventory # ABC_46300

Bibliographic Details

Title: The chronology of creation; or, geology and ...

Publisher: W. Thacker and Co. (back of title-page and colophon: printed by J.C. Sherriff, Bengal Military Orphan Press),, Calcutta,

Publication Date: 1850

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: 1st Edition