1st Edition

The Image of Restoration Science The Frontispiece to Thomas Sprat’s History of the Royal Society (1667)

By Michael Hunter Copyright 2017
166 Pages 84 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

166 Pages 84 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

166 Pages 84 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book is about a single image - the frontispiece to Thomas Sprat’s History of the Royal-Society of London (1667). Designed by John Evelyn, and etched by Wenceslaus Hollar, it is arguably the best-known representation of seventeenth-century English science. The use of such plates to celebrate and legitimise the ‘new’ science of the period falls into a tradition that was well-established both... Read more

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

1. Introduction

2. John Beale, ‘Lord Bacon’s Elogyes’ and the fortunes of Sprat’s History

3. The overall design of the frontispiece: sources and significance

4. Details: the portraits, books and institutional accoutrements of the Royal Society

5. The instruments. By Jim Bennett

6. The publication and dissemination of the print

7. Conclusion

Index

Biography

Michael Hunter, FBA, is Emeritus Professor of History in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of numerous books, including Boyle: Between God and Science (2009); Boyle Studies: Aspects of the Life and Thought of Robert Boyle (1627-91) (2015) and The Boyle Papers: Understanding the Manuscripts of Robert Boyle (2007); and is editor of Printed Images in Early Modern Britain: Essays in Interpretation (2010).

"Historians of art, the book and print-making will benefit from reading it just as much as historians of science. It is a gem." - Ludmilla Jordanova, University of Durham, Notes and Records of the Royal Society