Description

Amsterdam, Gebroeders Diederichs, 1830. 8vo (22.9 x 13.5 cm). x, 531 pp.; one folded engraved map and four lithographed views (of Switzerland) and one lithographed title vignette (Eddystone lighthouse). Original blind boards. = First and probably only Dutch translation of a rare work on the Earth's "floating surface" (i.e. the oceans, rivers, lakes), by the German topographer Johann Gottfried Sommer (1783-1848), originally titled Physikalische Beschreibung der flüssigen Oberfläche des Erdkörpers (Prague, 1823). It discusses subjects like tidal forces, waterfalls, springs, sea curents, etc., etc., and cites Klaproth, Cunningham, Scoresby, Weddell, Pary and others. Of the five plates, two show Swiss waterfalls and one a Swiss lake. Fore edge uncut. Pictorial (woodcut) bookplate on the front free endpaper recto; boards rubbed, titlepage dampstained in the lower inner corner, otherwise a very good copy.