Accession No

5857

Brief Description

six oil colour Muggletonian astronomical prints showing Newtonian and holy scripture systems of the universe, drawn by Isaac Frost and printed by George Baxter, English, 1846

Origin

England; London

Maker

Baxter, George [printer] Frost, Isaac [artist] Clubb and Son [engraver]

Class

prints; astronomy

Earliest Date

1846

Latest Date

1846

Inscription Date

Material

paper (paper, card); wood; glass

Dimensions

Each print in frame: length 530mm; width 450 mm; depth 30mm.

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Trevor Philips and Sons Ltd, 75a Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6NP on 21/11/2001.

Inscription

Titles on prints relating to the holy scriptures:
SYSTEM ACCORDING TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
Title on prints relating to the Newtonian universal theory:
The Newtonian System
and on one:
The Newtonian System of the Universe
All have the printing inscription:
Drawn by Isaac Frost Engraved by W.P. Clubb & Son
Printed in Oil Colors by G.Baxter, Patentee, 11 Northampton Square
Plate 6 bears the following inscription:
“This Diagram will show that if the Earth revolves round the Sun, as the Solar System states, then it will necessarily follow, that the Earth will differ in its position with the Sun and any given fixed star on its equator, every day throughout the whole year. Now consider, is it so? If it is not so, then it will make much in favour of the Holy Scriptures, that the Sun revolves around the Earth - Isaac Frost”

Description Notes

6 oil colour Muggletonian prints showing Newtonian and holy scripture systems of the universe, drawn by Isaac Frost and printed by George Baxter, 1846.

6 mounted and framed prints, 3 showing the Newtonian system of the universe and 3 showing the universe according to the holy scriptures. All 6 prints appear as plates in: Isaac Frost, Two Systems of Astronomy (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1846). See the ‘Notes’ section for Frost’s explanation of the plates, taken from the above book.

The prints are entitled:

Plate 1 - The Newtonian System of the Universe
Plate 3 - The Newtonian System
Plate 6 - The Newtonian System
Plate 7 - System According to the Holy Scriptures
Plate 9 - System According to the Holy Scriptures
Plate 10 - System According to the Holy Scriptures

Plate 6 also bears the inscription on the actual print:
“This Diagram will show that if the Earth revolves round the Sun, as the Solar System states, then it will necessarily follow, that the Earth will differ in its position with the Sun and any given fixed star on its equator, every day throughout the whole year. Now consider, is it so? If it is not so, then it will make much in favour of the Holy Scriptures, that the Sun revolves around the Earth - Isaac Frost”

Mounted on cream card and framed in red and gilt frames.
Condition very good.

References

Events

Description
These prints were included as plates in Isaac Frost’s Two Systems of Astronomy (1846). This book attacked the orthodoxy of heliocentric Newtonian astronomy (that the planets moved around the sun, as demonstrated by, for example, an orrery), and presented instead a rival system of the universe based on a particular and literal reading of the Bible. Frost was a member of a small Protestant sect, the Muggletonians, who believed the Earth was stationary and that Heaven existed as a physical reality. Three of these illustrations (plates 1, 3, and 6) aim to demonstrate flaws in ‘The Newtonian System’ of describing the cosmos; the other three (plates 7, 9, and 10) illustrate the Muggletonians’ own ‘System According to the Holy Scriptures’. Essential for conveying Frost’s argument, the plates were handsomely produced by London’s leading colour printer, George Baxter, and their extravagant cost required that the book’s publication be subsidized.

The sect known as the “Muggletonians” were originally formed during the aftermath of the English Civil War by cousins John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton. They were a radical religious sect - chapter XI of the Book of Revelation speaks of “two witnesses” whom God will appoint to preach to the ungodly world in its final days. Reeves and Muggleton received “messages from God” informing them that they were these witnesses. The sect lasted in one form or another, with small but reasonable support, well into the Victorian era (the last reported Muggletonian died in the second half of the twentieth century).
29/10/2013
Created by: Joshua Nall [label from Discoveries exhibition at Two Temple Place, London 2014] on 29/10/2013

FM:46274