Milestones of Science Books

WEGENER, Alfred.

The Origin of Continents and Oceans. Translated from the third German edition by J. G. A. Skerl.

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1924.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Item #002768

8vo (221 x 143 mm). xx, 212 pp. Some b&w illustrations in text. Original publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to spine and blind stamped lettering to upper board (very light soiling of boards, rubbing of extremities and bumping of corners). Text generally crisp and clean. A fine copy. ----

RARE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION of Alfred Wegener's famous work on continental drift. Wegener began his university career at the physical institute of the University Marburg in 1909, where he worked until 1919. After his habilitation in the fields of astronomy, meteorology and cosmic physics in Marburg, he became the director of the local observatory in 1910 and in parallel worked as a lecturer at the physical institute. Wegener became widely known for his pioneering theory on continental drift, which he published in two papers in the journal Petermanns Mitteilungen in 1912, both entitled Die Entstehung der Kontinente (The origin of continents). Although it was thought ludicrous at first, it has since been confirmed and is now quite acclaimed. In 1915 the first edition in book form appeared in German. It was "concerned with re-establishing the connection between geophysics on the one hand and geography and geology on the other, a connection which had been completely broken by specialist development of these branches of science. The second edition appeared in 1920, the third in 1922 and the fourth in 1929. Each edition was a complete revision, involving material compiled as a result of criticism, initially adverse, but subsequently interested. The third edition was translated into... English by J. G. A. Skerl in [1924]... with a foreword by the President of the English Geological Society, John W. Evans, C.B.E., F.R.S." (foreword to The Origin of Continents and Oceans, Dover edition, 1966). - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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