The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856University of Chicago Press, 2008 M09 15 - 542 pages At the turn of the nineteenth century, geology—and its claims that the earth had a long and colorful prehuman history—was widely dismissedasdangerous nonsense. But just fifty years later, it was the most celebrated of Victorian sciences. Ralph O’Connor tracks the astonishing growth of geology’s prestige in Britain, exploring how a new geohistory far more alluring than the standard six days of Creation was assembled and sold to the wider Bible-reading public. Shrewd science-writers, O’Connor shows, marketed spectacular visions of past worlds, piquing the public imagination with glimpses of man-eating mammoths, talking dinosaurs, and sea-dragons spawned by Satan himself. These authors—including men of science, women, clergymen, biblical literalists, hack writers, blackmailers, and prophets—borrowed freely from the Bible, modern poetry, and the urban entertainment industry, creating new forms of literature in order to transport their readers into a vanished and alien past. In exploring the use of poetry and spectacle in the promotion of popular science, O’Connor proves that geology’s success owed much to the literary techniques of its authors. An innovative blend of the history of science, literary criticism, book history, and visual culture, The Earth on Show rethinks the relationship between science and literature in the nineteenth century. |
From inside the book
Page
John Bird Sumner. John Bird Sumner A Practical Exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans and the First Epistle to the Corinthians outlook John Bird Sumner A Practical Exposition of the Epistle of. Front Cover.
John Bird Sumner. John Bird Sumner A Practical Exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans and the First Epistle to the Corinthians outlook John Bird Sumner A Practical Exposition of the Epistle of. Front Cover.
Page i
... ASSIST THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC INSTRUCTION AND DEVOTION . BY JOHN BIRD SUMNER , D.D. LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER . LONDON : J. HATCHARD AND SON , 187 , PICCADILLY . 1840 . BRITISH MUSET LONDON : PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER ,
... ASSIST THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC INSTRUCTION AND DEVOTION . BY JOHN BIRD SUMNER , D.D. LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER . LONDON : J. HATCHARD AND SON , 187 , PICCADILLY . 1840 . BRITISH MUSET LONDON : PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER ,
Page
John Bird SUMNER (successively Bishop of Chester and Archbishop of Canterbury.) 1 1474 The Christian's Encouragement to Prayer . A SERMON Preached OCTOBER the 29th , 1820 , AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW CHAPEL OF EASE , ETON , By the Revd ...
John Bird SUMNER (successively Bishop of Chester and Archbishop of Canterbury.) 1 1474 The Christian's Encouragement to Prayer . A SERMON Preached OCTOBER the 29th , 1820 , AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW CHAPEL OF EASE , ETON , By the Revd ...
Page
John Bird Sumner (abp. of Canterbury.) A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE GENERAL EPISTLES OF JAMES , PETER , JOHN , AND JUDE , IN THE FORM OF LECTURES , INTENDED TO ASSIST THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC INSTRUCTION AND DEVOTION . BY JOHN BIRD SUMNER ...
John Bird Sumner (abp. of Canterbury.) A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE GENERAL EPISTLES OF JAMES , PETER , JOHN , AND JUDE , IN THE FORM OF LECTURES , INTENDED TO ASSIST THE PRACTICE OF DOMESTIC INSTRUCTION AND DEVOTION . BY JOHN BIRD SUMNER ...
Page iii
... John Bird Sumner .. March 10 1848 Sept. 6 1862 Charles Thomas Longley .Nov . 26 1862 Oct. 27 1868 Archibald Campbell ... John Bird Sumner March 13 1808 Aug. 12 1827 ... Nov . 10 1827 Feb. 5 1856 ... April 13 1856 Aug. 24 1860 ..Nov . 11 ...
... John Bird Sumner .. March 10 1848 Sept. 6 1862 Charles Thomas Longley .Nov . 26 1862 Oct. 27 1868 Archibald Campbell ... John Bird Sumner March 13 1808 Aug. 12 1827 ... Nov . 10 1827 Feb. 5 1856 ... April 13 1856 Aug. 24 1860 ..Nov . 11 ...
Contents
PART II STAGING THE SHOW | |
New Mythologies of the Ancient Earth | |
Currencies and Sizes of Books | |
Works Cited | |
Credits | |
Index | |
Other editions - View all
The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856 Ralph O'Connor No preview available - 2008 |
The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856 Ralph O'Connor No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic ancient earth animals Anon antediluvian audience authority Bakewell biblical bones Bridgewater Treatise British Buckland Byron Cain Cambridge cave Creation culture Cuvier Deluge diorama display drama earth history Edinburgh edition Eidophusikon engravings extinct fiction fossil frontispiece Genesis genres geologists geology geology’s Gideon Mantell guidebook Hawkins Hugh Miller hyaenas ichthyosaur Iguanodon imagination John landscape lectures literal literalist literary literature London Lyell Lyme Regis mammoth Mantell Mantell's Martin Megalosaurus Miller Milton monsters Museum narrative Natural History natural theology nineteenth century ODNB Old Red Sandstone Oxford panorama Paradise Lost past period philosophical pictorial picture plesiosaur poem poet poetic poetry popular present prose pterodactyle quotation quoted readers Rennie reptiles restorations rhetoric romance Rudwick Rupke saurians scene scientific Secord Sommer spectacle story sublime theatre theatrical theories tion title-page Topham treatise University Press verse Victorian virtual tourism vision visual William William Buckland words writing