Flat Earth Literature

Earth Not a Globe
by Samuel Birley Rowbotham, PhD.'''

Description: "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, etc. A treatise on Zetetic Astronomy."


 * Earth Not a Globe
 * Original Pamphlet (1849) (16 Pages)
 * First Edition (1865) (225 Pages)
 * Second Edition (1881) (416 Pages)

Zetetic Cosmogony
by Thomas Winship'''

Thomas Winship presents evidence demonstrating that the world is not a rotating-revolving globe, but a stationary plane circle. This in-depth study provides further supporting evidence for the work of Samuel Birley Rowbotham by way of test, trial, and experiment.


 * Second Edition (1899) (215 Pages)

Kings Dethroned
by Gerrard Hickson

Description: "A History of the Evolution of Astronomy from the Time of the Roman Empire Up to the Present Day; Showing it to be an Amazing Series of Blunders Founded Upon an Error Made in the Second Century B.C."


 * Kings Dethroned

One Hundred Proofs the Earth is Not a Globe
by William Carpenter

William Carpenter (1830-1896) maintained that "There are rivers that flow for hundreds of miles towards the level of the sea without falling more than a few feet" notably, the Nile, which, in a thousand miles, falls but a foot. A level expanse of this extent is quite incompatible with the idea of the Earth's 'convexity.'" Carpenter also presents aeronautic testimony that even at the great observable heights no curvature of the earth is observed, and fits with the idea of a flat-earth, since it is the nature of level surfaces to rise to a level with the human eye.


 * First Edition

Article: $5000 for proving the earth is a globe
by Modern Mechanics, Oct 1931'''

Description: "Would you like to earn $5,000? If you can prove that the world is a sphere, floating in space, turning on its own axis, revolving around the sun, you can earn a prize of that amount. Such a prize has been posted for years, offered by Wilbur Glenn Voliva, general overseer of Zion, 111. Post and Gatty didn't fly around the world, according to Wilbur Glenn Voliva, they merely flew in a circle around the North Pole. This article presents Voliva's theory of a flat world, and tells you how you can win his offer of $5,000 for proving that he is wrong."

[ed: $5,000 (1931) is $91,430 (2021) adjusted for inflation]


 * Modern Mechanics Article Link

The Anti-Newtonian
by Author Unknown

The Anti-Newtonian is a Flat Earth work written in the early 1800's by an unknown author, which is believed to have been the basis for Earth Not a Globe. This model features three poles, as opposed to the later Flat Earth models which featured one or two poles.


 * The Anti-Newtonian

The Plane Truth
by Robert Schadewald

Full Text Link

The Plane Truth is a historical account of the Zetetic movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Offline Flat Earth Literature
'''Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea by Christine Garwood'''

Contrary to popular belief, fostered in countless school classrooms the world over, Christopher Columbus did not discover that the world was round. The idea of the world as a sphere had been widely accepted in scientific, philosophical and even religious circles from as early as the fourth century B.C. Bizarrely, it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion that the world might actually be flat really took hold. Even more bizarrely, it persists to this day, despite Apollo missions and widely publicized pictures of the decidedly spherical earth from space. Based on a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-earth beliefs - from the Babylonians to the present day - raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science, its relationship with religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. "Flat Earth" is the first definitive study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas, and evokes all the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual turmoil of the modern age.


 * Limited Preview

Citations/Peer Reviews
A woman named Lady Blount (Archive) was among the first to peer review Rowbotham's work:

Mrs. Peach recently found a reference of photographic evidence from The English Mechanic:

The Flat Earth: another Bedford Canal experiment" (Bernard H.Watson, et al) ENGLISH MECHANIC, 80:160, 1904

''Bedford Canal, England. A repeat of the 1870 experiment.''