Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche (1796-1855) served as president of the Geological Society from 1847 to 1849, having contributed greatly to the development of geological science and surveying in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Museum of Practical Geology in London. Reissued here in its 1831 first edition (which Darwin had with him aboard the Beagle), this work sought to help students to grasp the fundamentals of a rapidly advancing science. The first section considers the Earth's shape, density, temperature and other characteristics. The next part includes discussion of beaches, volcanos, and coastal processes. De la Beche then presents descriptions of various rock types, reflecting the state of contemporary geological knowledge. Highly successful, the book went through two further English editions; the expanded third edition is also reissued in this series.

The geologist Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche (1796 1855) made important contributions as both a surveyor and a theorist. Elected to the Royal Society in 1823, he mapped geological strata in Devon during the 1830s and became the founding director of the British Geological Survey, the world's first national geological survey. In 1847, he was elected president of the Geological Society of London. Reflecting the scope of his scientific knowledge, the present work covers a wide range of topics, including the density of planets, the mineralisation of organic remains, and what could be inferred from the fossils thus created. The book was first published in 1834, the year he became embroiled in an argument with his contemporary Roderick Murchison. Lasting several years, the dispute became known as the 'The Great Devonian Controversy'. De la Beche's Geological Manual (third edition, 1833) has also been reissued in this series."

Sir Henry Thomas de la Beche (1796 1855) was a talented and influential geologist. A friend of Mary Anning, he produced the famous lithograph Duria antiquior (1830), the first reconstruction of a scene from an ancient world, to support her work. He promoted government involvement in geology and became the founding Director of the British Geological Survey, which was officially recognised in 1835. Inspired by his work in Cornwall, he later founded the Royal School of Mines and the Museum of Practical Geology. Among his published works was a Manual of Geology (1831), which went through three English editions and was published in France, Germany and America. This 1824 collection of translations includes studies on sites across Europe and notes on the production of an early geological map of France. He also provides a table of equivalent formations and a translation of Brongniart's Classification of the Mixed Rocks.