xxviii, 226 pp. 8vo, cont. speckled calf (carefully rebacked), orig. leather lettering piece on spine. The Hague: Detune, 1778.

First edition, Dutch issue (there is also a Swiss issue published in the same year with a variant imprint). This work consists of a series of letters written by Deluc to Queen Charlotte of England describing his geological researches in Switzerland. On page viii of the Preface, Deluc introduces the term “géologie” for the first time as a more appropriate word than “cosmologie” for knowledge or understanding of the earth and its structure.

The text was later incorporated in Deluc’s great... More