(Piltdown hoax.) LEWIS ABBOTT (W.J.)
3 offprints, comprising:-
- 'The Ossiferous Fissures in the Valley of the Shode near Igtham, Kent' [followed by 'The Vertebrate Fauna collected by Mr. Lewis Abbott from the Fissure near Igtham, Kent, by E.T.Newton], from The Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 50, Part 2, No. 198 (1894) - 'The Prehistoric Races of Hastings' (Reprinted from the Saint Paul's Magazine), 1894 - 'The Geology & Prehistoric Races of the Hastings District', Oxford: Horace Hart, n.d. [circa 1912?]
Description:
the first with 6 figures and 2 plates at rear, the second with frontispiece photograph of found objects, the third with single illustration to the text,
pp. 170-212; 12; 8, various size 8vos,
the first bound in plain wrappers backed with cloth-tape, the others in original stapled wrappers, these a little chipped, good condition
Publication Details:
Oxford and London: various, 1894- 1912
Notes: [With:] Weiner (J.S.) The Piltdown Forgery. [Second printing.] Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1955, 8 monochrome plates, pp. xii, 214, crown 8vo, original maroon boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket a little chipped, very good. Weiner's book is inscribed by the author on the initial blank: 'To Martin [corrected to Martyn] and Margaret, with all good wishes, Joe Weiner, Belfast, 11th Feb '56'. The recipient, as a letter from Weiner (headed to the Department of Human Anatomy, University Museum, Oxford) laid into the first article clarifies, was Dr E.M. Jope, Oxford archa...more[With:] Weiner (J.S.) The Piltdown Forgery. [Second printing.] Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1955, 8 monochrome plates, pp. xii, 214, crown 8vo, original maroon boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket a little chipped, very good. Weiner's book is inscribed by the author on the initial blank: 'To Martin [corrected to Martyn] and Margaret, with all good wishes, Joe Weiner, Belfast, 11th Feb '56'. The recipient, as a letter from Weiner (headed to the Department of Human Anatomy, University Museum, Oxford) laid into the first article clarifies, was Dr E.M. Jope, Oxford archaeologist – a graduate of Oriel College and sometime secretary and president of the Oxford University Archaeological Society – subsequently transplanted to Belfast in 1949, where he was a lecturer and professor in the subject for the remainder of his career. This group of material indicates his natural interest in this major case of paleoanthropological fraud, in which bone fragments were presented as fossilised remains of a previously unknown human species - the 'missing link' in evolutionary biology. In his book, Weiner documents some of the activities of 'that remarkable amateur geologist of St. Leonards-on-Sea, the jeweller Lewis Abbott' (p. 96), and his significance in relation to the Piltdown discoveries of his associate Charles Dawson – a role sufficiently integral to lead Lewis Abbott to declare 'no Lewis Abbott, no Piltdown', whilst the first wave of excitement at the find was still cresting; inevitably, this has subsequently led to this 'fiery, bombastic, inspiring, and weird character' (p. 104) being regarded by some (see particularly, Charles Blinderman) as more than simply influential and actually the perpetrator of the hoax. This trio of scarce articles provide some account of the work that Lewis Abbott felt had paved the way for Dawson; in the case of the second, it also – in the advertisements for his business as a jeweller and watch-maker that adorn the covers – puts this sideline into relation with his profession. HIDE
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Price: £400
Subject: Sciences
Published Date: 1912
Stock Number: 69294
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