Typical fossils found in the Kelloways Stone stratum, 1816-1819
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William Smith’s work as a surveyor and engineer involved him travelling up and down the country during which he accumulated a large collection of ‘characteristic’ fossils of the British strata.
This hand coloured engraved plate, from Smith's 'Strata Identified by Organized Fossils, Containing Prints on Colored [sic] Paper of the Most Characteristic Specimens in Each Stratum' (1816-1819), depicts typical fossils found in Kelloways Stone [now spelt Kellaways], a stratum identified by Smith in 1800 when working on a drainage project in Wiltshire.
The illustrations, by the natural history illustrator and mineralogist James Sowerby (1757-1822), were printed on coloured paper to correlate with the geological colouring on Smith's 1815 Map of England and Wales.
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