ENCROACHMENTS OF THE SEA. (Cover title). de McGee, William J - 1890.

(New York): The Forum, 1890., 1890.. Fair. - Octavo, softcover bound in printed green wrappers. The wraps are chipped with their edges darkened & there is a handwritten label around the tail of the spine. Pages [437]-449. The top page corners are bumped & there is dampstaining to the front edges of the last leaf with lighter dampstaining to the bottom corners of a few previous pages. Good reading copy.

First separate edition, reprinted from The Forum for June 1890. The name of the important American geologist R[aphael] Pumpelly is penciled on the front cover in an unidentified hand.

William J. McGee [1853-1912] was an American inventor, geologist, anthropologist and ethnologist. He was one of the founders of the American Anthropological Association and its first president [1902]. He was also a founder of the Geological Society of America and vice-president of the National Geographic Society. He was credited with being the first person to use the term "geomorphology in English.

In this article, reprinted from The Forum of June 1890, McGee wrote that evidence for sea encroachment appears on many shores and that "...nowhere is it more curious or decisive than along the Gulf coast east of the mouth of the Mississippi. The coast of Florida is skirted by elongated peninsulas and islands called 'keys' separated from the mainland...." The article is a striking foreshadowing of our present concern with global warming.

Rare.