( Sir Charles) Principles of Geology, being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface , first edition , half-title in vol.1 & 3 only (as called for), 3 frontispiece (2 of which hand-coloured aquatints), 3 engraved maps (2 folding), 2 hand-coloured, 5 engraved plates, wood-engraved illustrations, diagrams, offsetting, some spotting or foxing (mostly to plates or maps), contemporary half calf, spines gilt and with red leather labels, rubbed, some scuffing to spines, some corners worn, [Horblit 70; Norman 1398], 8vo, John Murray, 1830-1832-1833. Revolutionary work on geology which established Lyell's uniformitarian theory of the earth based upon a knowledge of the existing causes and effects of geological change, rather than the concept of intervention by a higher being. Lyell argued that the order of nature in the past was uniform with that in the present, and that therefore all geological phenomena should be attributed to the gradual action, of modern geological processes over sufficient time. Charles Darwin read the work on his voyage with The Beagle and it greatly influenced his thinking on both geology and evolution.