Following the success of his first book Fossils of the South Downs (1822, RCIN 1090323), the geologist Gideon Mantell, set about producing a complete survey of the finds he and his wife, Mary Ann, had made at Tilgate Forest in Sussex. Issued as Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex in 1827, by 1833 he edited the work to include 'the most interesting portions' of it with new studies made near Brighton and elsewhere in south-east England. Manell dedicated it to William IV and this is the presentation copy to the king.