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Galleries: index · ·
![[picture: Front Cover of the 1770 Encylopædia Britannica]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/AndrewBell-EnclyclopaediaBritannica/tn/000-front-cover-410x500.jpg "[picture: Front Cover of the 1770 Encylopædia Britannica]")
Some of the copper-plate engravings by Andrew Bell that appeared in the first edition of the “Enclyclopædia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan, in which The different Sciences and Arts are digested into distinct Treatises or Systems; amd The various Technical Terms, &c. are explained as they occur in the order of the Alphabet.”
I have a facsimile of this edition. The original was issued serially (as was common at the time) in sections called “numbers” from 1768 to 1771. It was created by Andrew Bell, an engraver, and William Smellie who edited many of the articles; it was printed by Colin Macfarquhar.
Title: Enclyclopædia Britannica
City: Edinburgh
Date: 1771
Total items: 15
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: Plate XLII.---Astronomy.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/AndrewBell-EnclyclopaediaBritannica/wm/big/457-astronomy-xlii-q85-160x200.jpg "[picture: Plate XLII.---Astronomy.]")
![[picture: Plate XLII.---Astronomy: detail: antique star engraving]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/AndrewBell-EnclyclopaediaBritannica/wm/big/457-astronomy-xlii-detail-star-200x200.jpg "[picture: Plate XLII.---Astronomy: detail: antique star engraving]")
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...]
[$]![[picture: Plate XCIX.---Hydrostatics.---Fig. 1. A quadruple pump-mill for raising water.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/AndrewBell-EnclyclopaediaBritannica/wm/big/804-hydrostatics-xcix-01-pump-for-raising-water-q75-211x200.jpg "[picture: Plate XCIX.---Hydrostatics.---Fig. 1. A quadruple pump-mill for raising water.]")
Plate XCIX.—Hydrostatics.—Fig. 1. A quadruple pump-mill for raising water.
The height of modern technology in 1771: a super-efficient pump powered by a water wheel! [more...]
[$]![[picture: Plate XIX, fig. 3.---Crane Mechanism.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/AndrewBell-EnclyclopaediaBritannica/wm/big/056-mechanics-cix-fig3-crane-mechanism-q65-221x200.jpg "[picture: Plate XIX, fig. 3.---Crane Mechanism.]")
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...]
![[picture: Plate XCIX.---Hydrostatics.---Fig. 8. Cup of Tantalus (no letters)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/AndrewBell-EnclyclopaediaBritannica/wm/big/804-hydrostatics-xcix-08-lead-swim-in-water-no-letters-q75-87x200.jpg "[picture: Plate XCIX.---Hydrostatics.---Fig. 8. Cup of Tantalus (no letters)]")
Plate XCIX.—Hydrostatics.—Fig. 8. Cup of Tantalus (no letters)
This is a version of the Cup of Tantalus diagram, without the letters that tie it to the text. [more...]
[$]Some of the copper-plate engravings by Andrew Bell that appeared in the first edition of the “Enclyclopædia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan, in which The different Sciences and Arts are digested into distinct Treatises or Systems; amd The various Technical Terms, &c. are explained as they occur in the order of the Alphabet.”
I have a facsimile of this edition. The original was issued serially (as was common at the time) in sections called “numbers” from 1768 to 1771. It was created by Andrew Bell, an engraver, and William Smellie who edited many of the articles; it was printed by Colin Macfarquhar.
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