Enclyclopædia Britannica (page 2/3)

Front Cover of the 1770 Encylopædia Britannica

My copy is actually a fac-simile bound in full leather. Well, let’s say it’s full leather... [$]

Plate XIX, fig. 3.—Crane Mechanism.

Another very good crane is made in the following manner. AA (fig. 3.) is a great wheel turned by men walking within it at H. On the part C, of its axle BC, the great rope D is wound as the wheel turns; and this rope draws up goods in the same way as the rope HH does in the above-mentioned crane, the gib-work here being supposed to be of the same sort. But these cranes are very dangerous to the men in the wheel; for, if any f the men should chance to fall, the burden will make the wheel run back and throw them all about within it; which [...] [more...] [$]

Plate XV.—Anatomy.

A naked man is shown, without his skin, so that the muscles can be seen, in order to teach anatomy. [more...] [$]

Plate XLII.—Astronomy.

The purpose of the four interwoven figures here is to explain how an eclipse of Jupiter’s satellites (or moons) works. I will scan the details on request. These are beautifully-engraved [...] [more...] [$]

Plate XLII.—Astronomy: detail: antique star engraving

A copper-plate engraving representing a star from a diagram explaining astronomy; you can also see the full diagram. [more...] [$]

Plate XLII.—Astronomy: detail: sun and eclipses

A diagram with the sun in the middle, complete with a face, and showing the illumination of the earth at varoius times of the year, marked by month and zodiac sign. [...]the sun, and also the full diagram. [more...] [$]

Plate XLII.—Astronomy: detail: the face of the sun.

This diagram, taken from plate XLII on eclipses, shows the sun as an eight-pointed star with a face in the middle, including eyes, nose and mouth! (Obviously the sun does not have a beard, since the hair would burn away!) [more...] [$]

Plate XLIII.—Astronomy.

This full-page copper plate engraving contains a number of diagrams for the article on astronomy; I will post them as separate images on request. [more...] [$]

Plate XLIII.—Astronomy.—Fig. 1.

Figure 1.

The full plate [$]

Plate XLIII.—Astronomy.—Fig. 2.

Figure 2, showing the Winter Solstice on December 22nd.

The full plate [$]

Plate XLIII.—Astronomy.—Fig. 3.

This diagram shows how (and why) the moon appears to grow and shrink at different times of the month. [more...] [$]