Distinguished Men of Science
Major British Scholars of the Year 1807-8
Major British Scholars of the Year 1807-8
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Gilbert (print designer)
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Very large engraving depicting 51 of the leading British men in the field of science active 1807-08, assembled in the large sunlit library of the Royal Institution. A globe, folio stand, and an array of folio books in the foreground identify the men as members of the intellectual elite. James Watt, seated in the center, draws a diagram. The print was published concurrently with a book edited and published by William Walker, Memoirs of the Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in the Year 1807-08. A smaller fold-out version of the engraving appeared as the book's frontispiece, along with a one-page ad for the large version. Today, one of these prints is also in the collection of the National Library of Australia.
The facsimile signatures of all those present are represented in the lower margins: W. J. Fordham, Francis Baily [1774-1844, astronomer], John Playfair [1748-1819, mathematician, physicist and geologist], A. Rutherford, John Leslie, William Herschel [1738-1822, astronomer], Nevil Maskelyne [1732-1811, astronomer], P. Dollond, Thomas Young [1773-1829, physicist, physician and Egyptologist], Robert Brown [1773-1858, botanist and botanical explorer], Serres [?] Gilbert, Sir Joseph Banks [1743-1820, naturalist], Edward Jenner [1749-1823, physician], Henry Kater, William Smith [1769-1839, geologist], H[enry] Cavendish [1731-1810, physicist and chemist], Edward Howard, William Henry, William Allen, William Hyde Wollaston [1766-1828, chemist and physicist], Charles Habelhelt [?], Humphry Davy [1778-1829, English chemist and physicist], John Dalton [1766-1844, physicist and chemist], Henry Mauddlay [?], Mc J. Brunet, Matthew Boulton, James Bentham, R. Watson, J. Huddart, James Watt [1736-1819, inventor], Thomas Jefford, Rumford [Count Benjamin Thompson Rumford, 1753-1814, physicist and chemist], William Murdock [engineer], John Rennie [1761-1821, civil engineer], W. Jessop, William Chapman, Robert Mylne [?], William Congreve [rocket scientist], Thomas Thompson, Edward Troughton, Bryan Donkin, Samuel Crompton [1753-1827, inventor], Charles Tennant [chemist], William Symingtone, Edmund Cartwright [1743-1823, inventor], Francis Ronalds, Patrick Miller, Alexander Nasmyth [1758-1840, landscape and portrait painter], Joseph Bramah [1748-1814, inventor], Stanhope, R[ichard] Trevithick [1771-1833, engineer and inventor]. Pencil notation in lower right margin: "To his friend J. R. Squibb from Samuel A. Walker, Son of the Engraver, 1 January 1888." Condition: Generally very good with the usual scattered wear and light overall toning. Faint scattered foxing and mat toning. References: Biographies from 1upInfo.com. http://www.1upinfo.com/ (4 September 2003). "William Walker." National Library of Australia Pictures Catalogue. http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an10153931 (4 September 2003). |