Science, System of Astronomy Eclipse, Earth, Moon, 1788, Antique Print, Ramsden, celestial, Lot fourteen, Space

Plate 11: Eclipsaron, Equatoreal or Portable Observatory

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 the Act of Parliament by Alexander Hogg at the Kings Arms No 16 Paternoster Row” London 1788

Condition: Excellent. Printed on hand-made flax/hemp "laid paper" with complete plate-mark. Slight discoloration on top edge outside plate mark.

Plate-mark =  23 x 37.5cm (9.2 x 15 inch)

Certificate of authenticity supplied.

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.

Eclipsareon: Features the instrument invented by Mr. Ferguson for viewing the phenomena of eclipses.

Equatoreal or Portable Observatory : an instrument invented & made by Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800) in 1775,  to be independent of an observatory. Ramsden was a British mathematician whose astronomical instruments brought new standards of precision to instrument-making. They were well-known by mariners who used them to measure latitudes, and his survey instruments in cartography improving accuracy.