Histoire des Tremblemens de Terre arrivés a Lima capitale du Perou, et autres lieux; avec la description du Perou, et des recherches sur les Causes Phisiques [sic] des Tremblemens de Terre, par M. Hales de la Société Royale de Londres, & autres Phisiciens. Avec Cartes et Figures. Traduite de l’Angloise…

The Hague, n.p., 1752 Two parts in one volume, 16° (164x93 mm). Each part has its own title. xvi, 221; [9], 223-445 pp., last leaf blank. Head- and tailpieces. Seven folding engraved plates (light stained and spotted; a few nicks to folds; tear at the inner blank margin of the plate Plan de la Rade; minor loss to blank margin of the plate Dame creole chez elle). Contemporary mottled calf. Spine into compartments, five small raised bands, tooled in gilt; red morocco lettering piece, with title gilt. Marbled pastedowns and endpapers. Green silk bookmark, red edges. Corners light bumped. An excellent, very clean copy, a minor loss to the lower blank corner of l. B1, not affecting text. A few light spotting and staining. A pale waterstain to the last quire. An attractive copy of Hales’ observations on earthquakes, first appeared in English in 1750 on the Philosophical Transactions edited by the London Royal Society, and in this second edition accompanied by the French translation of the True and Particular Relation of the Dreadful Earthquake, account of the violent earthquake that on 28 october 1746 destroyed Lima and Port of Callao, and wrongly assigned to the Jesuit Pedro Lozano (1697-1752). The last leaves contain some letters describing the shocks that on June 1692 struck the island of Jamaica, translated by Hales himself and ascribed to the reverend E. Heath. Sabin, 42596; C. F. Walker, Shaky Colonialism. The 1746 Earthquake-Tsunami in Lima, Perou and its long Aftermath, Durhan, NC 2008.