Science Technology System of Astronomy  1788 Latitude, Longitude,

Plate 7: Features equipment, Armillary Sphere, Astronomical Sector, Micrometer, and mathematical diagrams of parallex, Aspect trine tetragon, Meridian Lin, Diurnal Motion, Latitude/Longitude, Particula exsors, Saturn's Ring and much more

Antique Copper engraving by Wilson Lowry for distinguished English scientist and lawyer, George Selby Howard’s “The New Royal Cyclopaedia; or, Modern Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences”

Published according to Act of Parliament Alexander Hogg, at the Kings Arms No16 Paternoster Row" circa 1788

Condition: Excellent printed on hand-made "laid paper" with complete plate-mar. Embossed stamp "Public Library of South Australia" in upper right corner

Plate-mark size = 23 x 37.5 cm (9.2 x15 inch). Discolouration on top edge outside plate-mark.

Saturn's Rings: The Rings are composed of small particles sized from micrometers to metes. The particles are mostly ice with elements of rocky fragments. They were first recorded by Galileo Gallilei in 1610 within a year of viewing the skies with a telescope. The telescope was credited to Dutchman Hans Lippershey in 1608.  Galileo thereby is credited with being the first to observe Saturn's Rings. It was another Dutchman, Christiaan Huygens in 1655, that described them as a "disk surrounding Saturn". He also discovered Saturn's moon, Titon.

Wilson Lowry: was a line engraver of scientific and technical illustrations, architectural views, landscapes, and portraits by contemporaries and his own design. Born in Whitechapel, Cumberland he was apprenticed to an engraver called Ross in Worcester, moving to London in 1780. He is credited with inventing a device for 'hatching' on plates and was one of the earliest to tackle the hard steel plate engraving, the harder metal required for the increased demand on the printing presses in the 1820's.