CONYBEARE (William Daniel). Ten plates comprising a plan, s - Lot 8

CONYBEARE (William Daniel). Ten plates comprising a plan, sections, and views, representing the changes produced on the coast of east Devon, between Axmouth and Lyme regis by the subsidence of the land and elevation of the bottom of the sea, on the 26th December, 1839, and 3rd of February, 1840. London: John Murray, 1840. - Oblong folio album, 292 x 440 : (3 ff.), 14 pp. 10 plates. Publisher's boards, printed label on front cover, smooth spine in later green tacky cloth. First edition of this album documenting the famous landslides that occurred in East Devon (England), between Axmouth and Lyme Regis, in December 1839 and February 1840. It is considered the first detailed scientific description of a major landslide. Opening with a list of subscribers, it begins with a geological memoir by William Daniel Conybeare (1787-1857), intended to describe and illuminate these phenomena. It continues with ten lithographed zinc plates, combining plans, geological sections and views, based on drawings by engineer and surveyor William Dawson (c. 1790-1878), Conybeare himself, and paleontologist and scientific illustrator Mary Buckland (1797-1857). All text and illustrations were revised by the religious geologist William Buckland (1784-1856). These plates are distinguished by their quality: the first three, in color, represent the plan and sections, while the next seven, in two-tone, offer striking views of the affected sites. Plates 2 and 5 are double-page spreads. The seven views illustrate a variety of perspectives: View of the landslide from Great Bindon, looking west towards the Sidmouth Hills and the Exe estuary. - View of the Axmouth landslide from Dowlands, looking west over Undercliff and New Beach raised from the sea bed on December 25, 1839. - View of the great chasm from its western end at Bindon looking east towards the Dorset and Portland coast. - View from the new beach looking west to Beer Head. - View from the west end of the beach near Culverhole Point, looking east. - View of the landslide at Whitlands, about a mile east of the great Dowlands chasm that occurred on February 3, 1840. - Landslide under Southdown between Beer Head and Branscombe that took place in 1789-1790. Spine rebacked later, soiling and foxing to boards. Folds and tears on title leaf. Some foxing on the plates.