Stones of the valley.

London, Richard Bentley, 1857. Small 8vo (16.2 x 10.1 cm). xi, 270 pp.; folded, lithographed frontispiece of the Corn-cockle Quarry, 1856; four lithographed and wood-engraved plates (one folding). Original red, blind-stamped cloth with gilt vignette on the front board and rich gilt ornaments and title on the spine. Yellow endpapers. Gilt edges. In protective transparent sleeve. A well-illustrated introduction to both general and local, English, geology, by the reverend William Samuel Symonds (18180-1887). His daughter Hyacinth was the second wife of the Scottish naturalist Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet, and then the second wife of the great botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, one of the closest friends of Charles Darwin(Wikipedia). Dedicated to Mrs. Hugh E. Strickland [Catherine Dorcas Maule Jardine, the daughter of Sir William Jardine; widow of the geologist Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811-1853)]. The work is based on the ideas and findings of Charles Lyell. Inscribed on the front free endpaper recto (dated 1861). Rather rare. A well-preserved, complete copy in the original binding, like this one, surely is exceptional.