The first comprehensive evidence for continental drift, in the rare dust jacket. First edition, first impression, an attractive copy in the rare dust jacket. Our Wandering Continents presented some of the most important geological evidence for the theory of continental drift and included the first proposal of the existence of the supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana.

South African scientist Alexander Du Toit (1878-1948) was known to his contemporaries as 'the world's greatest field geologist' (LeGrand, Drifting Continents and Shifting Theories, p. 82). He was the leading supporter of Alfred Wegener, who had first advanced the theory of continental drift in 1912. Du Toit collected a vast body of evidence for drift as he mapped geological strata over large tracts of South Africa between 1903 and 1920, and he became the leading authority on the Karroo region, whose anomalies he believed were explained by continental movement. Du Toit travelled to Australia and South America in 1914 and 1923 to test this hypothesis, comparing strata and fossils between the regions.

'Using Drift, the directions of ice flow deduced from the Dwyka Tillite in South Africa and Australia could be harmonised with those reported for India and South America. Glossopteris and other fossils could be matched up with those in other southern continents... Drift offered an elegant solution to problems he had identified, especially those associated with the great southern glaciation' (LeGrand, p. 82). Du Tuoit eventually determined that the Karroo region extended across all of the southern continents, leading him to reformulate Wegener's theory — instead of one previous supercontinent, Pangea, he postulated that there had been two, Gondwana in the south and Laurasia in the North (we now know that both men were correct, as Pangea split into these two continents). Though continental drift would not be fully embraced by the scientific community until the 1950s, Du Toit's work made crucial contributions to our current understanding of the Earth's history.

First edition, first impression; 8vo; 2 folding plates, illustrations within the text, 1960s ownership inscription to the front free endpaper, a little spotting to the top edge of the text block, contents fresh; original red cloth, titles to spine gilt, corners bumped, spine very slightly rolled, in the lightly rubbed jacket with some nicks and short splits, very good condition; 366pp.