Full Description

Product Code: WSFR

By Peter Wigley (editor) with Jill Darrell, Diana Clements and Hugh Torrens

William Smith's Fossils Reunited: "Strata Identified by Organized Fossils" and "A Stratigraphical System of Organized Fossils" by William Smith

Published by Halsgrove Publishing, 260x270mm, profusely illustrated in colour throughout.

William Smith is considered by many to be the Father of English Geology and is best remembered for his remarkable geological map of England and Wales, made in 1815.
From an early date, Smith recognized that many of the strata which he showed on his map were characterized by the fossils they contained. In 1816 he started a book called Strata Identified by Organized Fossils which, although unfinished, was a fundamental work in establishing the science of stratigraphy. In this book Smith figured fossils from each stratum. The fossil plates were exquisitely engraved by the renowned illustrator, naturalist and mineralogist, James Sowerby, from fossils provided by Smith.

Although a brilliant geologist, Smith was an unlucky business man and because of his precarious financial position he was forced to sell his extensive fossil collection to the British Museum. In William Smith’s Fossils Reunited, the authors have included new photographs of fossils from Smith’s Collection, now housed at the Natural History Museum. These photographs have been arranged next to the original engravings, and in some cases, Smith’s sketches. Smith’s original texts for both Strata Identified and a later work Stratigraphical System of Organized Fossils, which catalogued the fossils, have been reprinted within the book. As Smith roamed the English countryside collecting fossils he was careful to note the exact geographical location of each fossil and also the rock layer from which it came. In this book these locations are shown on copies of Smith’s own geological maps.

With a Foreword by Sir David Attenborough, William Smith’s Fossils Reunited is intended both for the William Smith enthusiast and also for those with a more general interest in the work of this remarkable pioneering geologist.The fossil illustrations and maps in this exquisite volume are aesthetically pleasing in their own right and demonstrate the extraordinary skill of early nineteenth-century engravers and map makers.