Research Guides: The Flat Earth and its Advocates: A List of References: Books and Book Chapters
For thousands of years people have known the earth is a sphere, yet, periodically, doubters come forward to challenge the fact. This guide provides links to books and journal articles on the pseudoscientific theory that the earth is a flat disc.
Books and Book Chapters - The Flat Earth and its Advocates: A List of References - Research Guides at Library of Congress Skip to Main Content Library of Congress Research Guides Search this Guide Search Library of CongressResearch GuidesScience & TechnologyThe Flat Earth and its Advocates: A List of ReferencesBooks and Book Chapters The Flat Earth and its Advocates: A List of References IntroductionBooks and Book ChaptersJournal ArticlesUsing the Library of Congress Science & Technical Reports: Ask a Librarian Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help. Books and Book Chapters Jacques Cassini, cartographer. Planisphere terrestre, suivant les nouvelles observations des astronomes. [1721 or later]. Library of Congress Geography & Map Division. In mid nineteenth century England, public lectures provided the opportunity for people of modest means to learn about the world around beyond their communities and the world around themselves. One of the many traveling speakers, a man calling himself "Parallax" toured the lecture halls and auditoriums of England, drew crowds by expounding upon his personal experiments, which, he claimed, showed the Earth was not a globe, but a flattened disk. Parallax, a skilled debater, would begin to revive the age old idea of the flat earth. Parallax, a man actually named Samuel Birley Rowbotham, and those he inspired, would go on to write a number of books discussing the idea of the flat earth. These authors, their ideological successors and those who have written about them are represented in the books, book chapters, and book excerpts of The Flat Earth and its Advocates: A List of References. This list of books, chapters and excerpts on the flat earth theory has been split, with Library of Congress materials being given their own list on this page, followed by the list of materials from other institutions which Freitag included in her original guide. Journal and magazine articles have been given a separate page. The resulting resource lists have been organized by author's surname where known, and then by title. The Flat Earth and its Advocates: A List of References was originally published in May of 1998. Works which postdate 1998 are drawn from the new material available in the Library's collections on the subject. Resources Available at the Library of Congress The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content, including full digitized books, are included when available. Specific chapters focusing on this topic are noted in the citations. Misconceptions about the Middle Ages by Stephen Harris & Bryon L. Grigsby (Eds.)Call Number: CB353 .M565 2008ISBN: 9780415770538Published/Created: 2007Bishop, Louise M. Myth of the flat earth. In Misconceptions about the Middle Ages. New York: Routledge, 2008. p. 97-101. The great American misfit: 26 bizarre personal histories by William BramhallCall Number: CT9990 .B7 1982ISBN: 0517547589Published/Created: 1982Wilbur Glenn Voliva. In Bramhall's The great American misfit: 26 bizarre personal histories. New York, C. N. Potter, [1982]. p. 71–73. port. One hundred proofs that the earth is not a globe by William CarpenterCall Number: QB638 .C3 1885aPublished/Created: 1885[6th ed.] Baltimore, 1885. 39 p. Available online from Project Gutenberg External His pronouncement, a layman's version, a layman's message by R.G.S. CollamoreCall Number: Q173 .C6Published/Created: 1924Philadelphia, Dorrance, [1924]. 157 p. Available online from HathiTrust External A reparation: universal gravitation, a universal fake by C.S. DeFordCall Number: QB283 .D44 1992ISBN: 0877705127Published/Created: 1992Fairfield, Wash., Ye Galleon Press, [1992]. 62 p. illus., port. An older edition is available online from the Internet Archive External Reprint of the 3d ed. (New York, Fortean Society, 1931), with a new introduction by Robert J. Schadewald. "... an attempt to prove that the world is flat." Odd and Eccentric People by Time-Life Books EditorsCall Number: CT9990 .O33 1992ISBN: 0809477238Published/Created: 1992Flat city. In Odd and eccentric people. Alexandria, Va., Time-Life Books [1992] (Library of curious and unusual facts) p. 13–14. illus., port. About Wilbur Glenn Voliva. Fads and fallacies in the name of science by Martin GardnerCall Number: Q173.G35 1957Published/Created: 1957Flat and hollow. In his Fads and fallacies in the name of science. [Rev. and expanded ed.] New York, Dover Publications [1957] p. 16–27. Available online from the Internet Archive External The part of this chapter dealing with flat-earth proponents is about Voliva and the Christian Apostolic Church in Zion, Ill. Flat Earth: the history of an infamous idea by Christine GarwoodCall Number: QB280.5 .G37 2008ISBN: 9780312382087Published/Created: 2008New York, Thomas Dunne Books, 2008. xii, 436 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps Is the Bible from heaven? Is the earth a globe? In two parts...also an accurate chronology of all past time, containing a classification of all eclipses from creation by Alex GleasonCall Number: QB638 .G56Published/Created: 18932d ed., rev. and enl. Buffalo, N.Y., Buffalo Electrotype and Engraving Co. [1893] xix, 402 p. illus., map, col. plates, ports. Available online from the Internet Archive External Earth not a globe: scientifically, geometrically, philosophically demonstrated. Over 75 arguments and 30 diagrams by Henry J. GoudeyCall Number: QB52 .G7Published/Created: 1930Boston, Mass., 1930. 145 p. illus., fold. map. The new manual of biblical cosmography; or, Outline of the general system of the universe by John HampdenCall Number: QB638 .H22Published/Created: 1877London, Beaumont, [1877]. 15 p. fold. illus. The infidel globe or Scientific witchcraft, the emblem of paganism and the refuge of the atheist.Call Number: YA 22866 (Rare Book/Special Collections Reading Room)Published/Created: 1884[London?], 1884. [4] p. The book of light, a brief description of the earth, with a map showing its shape. The earth being flat instead of round, the sun is not stationary but moves. by Gilbert JohnsonCall Number: QB638 .J6 1923Published/Created: 1923Greer, Mo., 1923. 48 p. fold. map. First published in 1890 (7p. QB638 .J6 1890 CABIN BRANCH). Those Eccentric Yankees. by John Lovell (Ed.).Call Number: CT9990 .T58 1991ISBN: 0899092055Published/Created: 1991Labbie, Edith. The world is flat. In Those eccentric Yankees. Edited by John Lovell. Introd. by Robert Taylor. Camden, Me., Yankee Books,[1991]. p. 10–13. About Joseph W. Holden (1816–1900) of Otisfield, Me. Eccentric lives and peculiar notions by John F. MichellCall Number: CT9990 .M5 1984Published/Created: [1984]Loyalists of the flat earth. In Eccentric lives and peculiar notions. p. 21–32. illus., plates, ports. References (19): p. 234. The plates follow p. 32; no. [2]–[5] relate to the flat-earth supporters. Can you speak Venusian? A guide to the independent thinkers by Patrick MooreCall Number: QB52.M66 1972ISBN: 0393063941Published/Created: 1973Better and flatter earths. In Can you speak Venusian? A guide to the independent thinkers. New York,Norton, [1972]. p. 16–29. illus. Unpopular truth against popular errors in references to the shape of the earth by Charles W. MorseCall Number: QB281 .M8Published/Created: 1913Boston, C. J. F. Fletcher, Printer, 1913. 78 p. illus., port. Proofs (so-called) of the world's rotundity, examined in the light of facts and common sense by "Search Truth"Call Number: YA 22774 YA Pam (Rare Book/Special Collections Reading Room)Published/Created: 1882[London, Zetetic Society, 1882?]. 2p. illus. "... the world is as God made it, a circular and motionless plane, with the Sun, Moon, and Stars revolving at very moderate distances above it ..." An encyclopedia of claims, frauds and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural by James Randi.Call Number: BF1407 .R36 1995ISBN: 031213066XPublished/Created: 1995Flat Earth Society. In An encyclopedia of claims, frauds, and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural. New York, St. Martin's Press. [1995]. p. 97–98. James Randi's decidedly skeptical definitions of alternate realities. Zetetic astronomy. A description of several experiments which prove that the surface of the sea is a perfect plane, and that the earth is not a globe. Being the substance of a paper read before the Royal Astronomical Society on the evening of Dec. 8, 1848 by [Samuel B. Rowbotham]Call Number: QB638 .R87Published/Created: 1849By ‘Parallax' [pseud.]. Birmingham, W. Cornish, 1849. 16 p. illus. Worlds of their own: a brief history of misguided ideas: creationism, flat-earthism, energy scams, and the Velikovsky affair by Robert J. SchadewaldCall Number: Q172.5 .P77 S334 2008ISBN: 9781436304351Published/Created: 2008[Philadelphia]: Xlibris, c2008. 272 p. : ill. American Eccentrics by Carl SifakisCall Number: CT9990 .S53 1984ISBN: 087196788XPublished/Created: 1984Wilbur Glenn Voliva (1870–1942): king of the flat earthers. In American eccentrics. New York, Facts on File Publications, [1984]. p. 226–229. port. My life, a record of events and opinions by Alfred Russel WallaceCall Number: QH31 .W2 A, v. 2Published/Created: 1905[Hampden and the flat earth] In My life, a record of events and opinions. v. 2. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1905. p. 381–393. illus. Available online from HathiTrust External The square pegs; some Americans who dared to be different. by Irving WallaceCall Number: CT9990 .W3Published/Created: 1957In defense of the square peg. In The square pegs; some Americans who dared to be different. New York, A. A. Knopf, 1957. p. 3–24. Available online from the Internet Archive External Discusses Wilbur Glenn Voliva on p. 3–8. A history of the warfare of science with theology in Christendom by Andrew D. WhiteCall Number: BL245 .W5, v. 1Published/Created: 1896The form of the earth. In A history of the warfare of science with theology in Christendom. v. 1. New York, D. Appleton, 1896. p. 89–98. Available online from HathiTrust External The shape of the earth; some proofs for the spherical shape of the earth given in astronomical and geographical text-books examined, and shown to be unsound. by Arthur V. WhiteCall Number: QB283 .W5Published/Created: 1909[Toronto?] University of Toronto Alumni Association, 1909. [12] p. illus. Available online from HathiTrust External Reprinted from the University Monthly, Mar. 1909. Zetetic cosmogony; or, Conclusive evidence that the world is not a rotating-revolving-globe, but a stationary plane circle by [Thomas Winship]Call Number: QB638 .W77Published/Created: 1899By Rectangle [pseud.] 2d ed., enl. Durban, Natal, T. L. Cullingworth, 1899. 192 p. Available online from HathiTrust External First published in 1897 (46 p., QB638.W769). Additional Resources Available at Other Libraries Ruth Freitag's original guide included material that does not appear in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. For these items, we have provided links to the OCLC Worldcat External database, a free tool which allows users to search a combined catalog of materials from many of the world's prominent libraries. The original guide provided British Library shelfmarks in the locations where they appear. Call numbers from other institutions have been added and are provided as examples only. Items in question may or may not have copies held at multiple institutions. Consult OCLC Worldcat records for additional holdings information. The list is organized by author's surname where known, and then by title. The following materials include links to fuller bibliographic information in OCLC Worldcat. External Links to digital content are included when available. The terrestrial plane; or, The true figure of the earth. by Frederick H. Cook ExternalCall Number: Held by the British Library under shelfmark 8563. b. 52Published/Created: 1908[London, 1908] 64 p. Does the earth rotate? by William Edgell ExternalCall Number: Held by the New York Public Library at *C p.v. 1972Published/Created: 1927[London?, 1927]. 69 p. illus., port. Chart and compass, sextant and sundial, latitudes and longitudes, plumbline and pendulum, globe or plane? A letter of remonstrance, respectfully addressed to the officers of the Naval and Mercantile Marine of England and America. by London. Zetetic Society ExternalCall Number: Held by the British Library under shelfmark c. 19. (9.).Published/Created: 1887[London, 1887]. 8 p. The Earth a plane. by John E. Quinlan ExternalCall Number: Held by the British Library under shelfmark 8563.b.Published/Created: 1906London, [1906]. Available online from the Internet Archive External Zetetic astronomy. Earth not a globe. An experimental inquiry into the true figure of the earth, proving it a plane... by [Samuel B. Rowbotham] ExternalCall Number: Held by Yale University Library at QB52 R68 1881Published/Created: 1881Full Title: Zetetic astronomy. Earth not a globe. An experimental inquiry into the true figure of the earth, proving it a plane, without orbital or axial motion, and the only known material world; its true position in the universe, comparatively recent formation, present chemical condition, and approaching destruction by fire, &c., &c. By "Parallax" [pseud.] The illus. by George Davey. 3d ed., rev. and enl. London, Day, 1881. 430 p. illus. An older edition of this title is available online from the Internet Archive External Terra firma: the earth not a planet, proved from scripture, reason, and fact. by David W. Scott. ExternalCall Number: Held by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Library, Special Collections at QB638 .S36 1901Published/Created: 1901London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1901. xvi, 288 p. illus., fold. map. Available online from HathiTrust External Is the Earth a whirling globe? by Carl Albert Smith ExternalCall Number: Held by the British Library under shelfmark 8562. aaa. 35.Published/Created: [1918]2d ed., rev. and enl. Northampton, [1918]. 112 p. << Previous: IntroductionNext: Journal Articles >> Last Updated: Jul 12, 2022 10:57 AM URL: https://guides.loc.gov/flat-earth Print Page Login to LibApps Subjects: Earth Sciences and Geology, Geography, History, Physics and Astronomy Back to top Hosted by Springshare Library of Congress Legal SpringShare Privacy Policy