First [-Fourth] report on the facts of earthquake phaenomena

Foundation Work of Seismology-Author's Copy

Mallet, Robert (1810-81). (1) First [-third] report of the facts of earthquake phaenomena. Offprints from Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1850 (1850), Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1851 (1852) and Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1852 [-54] (1852-55). [2], 87; [2], 273-320; [2], 176, [1], 118-212, 326pp. 6 plates, numbered 12-17. 218 x 135 mm. Three items in 2, bound in 19th century marbled boards rebacked and recornered in calf, slightly rubbed. Light toning, edges of some plates a little frayed, but very good. Mallet's copy, with his signature on the title of the first report; the first two reports interleaved with both autograph and printed corrections inserted throughout; autograph note on p. 153 of the third report. (2) [with John William Mallet.] The earthquake catalogue of the British Association, with the discussion, curves, and maps, etc. . . . Being third and fourth reports. Offprint from Transactions of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1852-58). [2], 176, [1], 118-212, 326, 136pp. 15 plates. 221 x 140 mm. Original boards, cloth spine with paper label, rebacked, one corner bent. Light toning, but very good.

First Separate Editions. Mallet, an Irish engineer and inventor, was a pioneering researcher on earthquakes, and his four reports on earthquakes, published in the journals of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, represent the first scientific work on the subject. Mallet coined the term "seismology" to describe the scientific study of earthquakes, and was also responsible for the terms "epicenter," "seismic focus" (the point at which an earthquake originates), "angle of emergence," "isoseismal line" (contour or line on a map bounding points of equal intensity for a particular earthquake), and "meizoseismal area" (area of maximum earthquake damage). "He produced an experimental seismograph in 1846. Important elements of his model, which was never actually used, were incorporated in the seismograph that Luigi Palmieri made in 1855. Between 1850 and 1861 Mallet set off explosions in different locations to determine the rate of travel of seismic waves in sand (825 feet per second), solid granite (1,665 feet per second) and quartzite (1,162 feet per second). According to A. Sieberg (1924), Mallet should be considered the founder of the physics of earthquakes. . . . Mallet presented his most important seismic results in four Report[s] to the British Association (1850, 1851, 1852-54, 1858) and in four editions of the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry (1849, 1851, 1859, 1871). Between them, they contain an extensive catalog-which he prepared and debated with his son, John W. Mallet-of 6,831 earthquakes reported between 1606 B.C. and A.D. 1858 and his seismic map of the world" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography).

We are offering Mallet's copies of his first, second and third reports, with his corrections and emendations. Accompanying these is the Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association, which incorporates Mallet's third and fourth reports.