Copy of Geology familiarly illustrated by Catherine Mary Webber.

Watercolor copy of Catherine Mary Webber's Geology familiarly illustrated (published in 1859 by J.B. Goodinge). The copy faithfully reproduces the form and content of the published original: a semi-continuous series of images depicting geological strata, named, together with humorous visual puns on the geological names. "Oolite formation," for example, depicts a stratum of oolite, underneath a depiction of a woman whose dress has caught fire; "trap" depicts a geological trap, beneath the image of an unlucky hunter with foot ensnared in a leghold trap; "extensive denudation" depicts a stratum of Kentish rag, beneath the image of a man at the barber with denuded head.
The copy makes no reference to the author of the original, Catherine Mary Webber. The verso of the strip is signed in graphite: "Helen Holbeeke, Sutton Coldfield." Beneath this signature is a note in black ink: "I think that my aunt Helen Holbeeke must have drawn these about 1840. I recopied them in 1864/5 very indifferently [?]. Richard Holbeeke, 14.5.99."