Agassiz (Louis). Etudes sur les Glaciers, 2 volumes, 1840

Agassiz (Louis). Etudes sur les Glaciers, 2 volumes (octavo text and folio atlas), 1st edition, Neuchatel & Solothurn: Jent et Gassmann, 1840, text volume with errata leaf at rear, bound without half-title, some occasional spotting, mainly marginal, contemporary half calf, edges a little rubbed and scuffed, 8vo; atlas with original upper wrapper (with manuscript shelf number) and 18 lithograph plates of glaciers, 14 printed outline key plates as issued, first key plate with long tear and tape repair to verso, a few plates and key plates with Clifton Hall Association, Mercantile Library, New York oval ink stamps to corners, a few mainly marginal water stains, contemporary boards, calf reback, a little rubbed with some edge wear, atlas, 49.1 x 34.1 cm (Quantity: 2) Provenance: Gawdy Hall Library (label at front of text volume); Clifton Hall, Mercantile Library, New York (ink stamps in atlas). Norman 17; PMM 309. "Agassiz was not the first to observe the phenomena of glaciation, but he was innovative in the wide-ranging character of his research, his measurements of ice formations, and his elaboration of local geology into a theory explaining Continental natural history" (D. S. B.). His concept of an "Ice Age" during which glaciers advanced and retreated over a large part of the northern land-mass not only accounted for the area's topography and rock distribution, but gave naturalists such as Darwin and Lyell a means of explaining the geographical distribution and subsequent genetic kinship of species now separated by land or water barriers." (Norman).