Citation

Taylor MA, O'connor R, Overstreet LK. Archives of Natural History 2021; 48(2): 310-324.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021)

DOI

10.3366/ANH.2021.0724

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Assessing the precise publication dates of nineteenth-century books is difficult. Common problems include inadequate, inaccurate and confusing title-page information, and misleading advertisements. It is better to use multiple lines of evidence rather than a single source. The first Scottish and English edition of The testimony of the rocks, by Hugh Miller (1802-1856), is shown to have been published on or about 24 March 1857, after the author's suicide, as a combination of the first and second issues simultaneously. The first issue was published by Shepherd & Elliot of Edinburgh in co-operation with Hamilton, Adams & Co. of London. It was optionally available with an additional frontispiece of a photographic print of Miller. The second issue was published by Thomas Constable & Co. of Edinburgh with Shepherd & Elliot and Hamilton, Adams. After some further issues, Shepherd & Elliot was dropped later in 1857, so that the third publishers' imprint became Constable with Hamilton, Adams, for a number of issues. Constable and Hamilton, Adams published a newly-typeset second Edinburgh edition in 1860, but failed to denote it as such. Gould & Lincoln of Boston, Massachusetts, published the first American edition (from a new typesetting) and distributed it on or about 25 April 1857. © The Society for the History of Natural History.

Language: en

Keywords

Bibliography; Edinburgh publishers; Geology; Gould & Lincoln; Natural history publishing; Principle of priority