The first edition of this work was printed for the author in 1787. This edition contained 32 engraved copper plates. A second edition was published by W. & S. Jones in 1798. This also contained 32 plates but some of the illustrations had been modified to reflect some of the W. & S. Jones instrumentation. There also appear to be some differences between plates of the versions even though the inscriptions remain the same. Where this is the case, the original plates were augmented by extra figures (this saved money). These are also shown.
The plates in both editions were of folio size.
It is unrealistic to reproduce that format on screen as the resultant images are of considerable size. We have, therefore, chosen to show a reduced image of the complete plate and by clicking on each component within the plate a larger image will be presented.
Where a plate differs between the two editions we show both plates with a caption so that it is clear which edition the plate is taken from.
The frontispiece above is from the first edition.
The text volume of this work occasionally appears at a reasonable price, but they are nearly always missing their plates. This CD, it is hoped, will allow these texts to be more useful and not just treated as an example of late 18th century printing and binding.
Proceed to Plate List
Proceed to Figure List
Some further Notes about the plates.
This format ©Copyright D. S. Gill & M. Samworth