Accession No
6749
Brief Description
19 prints of plates and 2 bound volumes "Plates for the Essays on the Microscope" and "Plates to Adams", by George Adams, English, 1787
Origin
England; London; 60 Fleet Street
Maker
Adams, George Hindmarsh, Robert [printer]
Class
prints; books
Earliest Date
1787
Latest Date
1787
Inscription Date
Material
paper (card, cardboard); ink
Dimensions
"Plates for the Essays on the Microscope" height 265mm; depth 19mm; width 395mm "Plates to Adams" height 280mm; depth 150mm; width 450mm biggest print height 240mm; width 390mm smallest print height 123mm; width 200mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Christie's, South Kensington, London, England on 8 April 2009
Inscription
Description Notes
19 prints of plates, 2 bound volumes "Plates for the Essays on the Microscope" and "Plates to Adams", by George Adams, English, 1787.
Two paper bound books, one with paper marbling covers and leather quarter binding on spines and corners, the other one with dark blue cover and book spine bound in green, also with 19 print etching plates of various sizes not attached nor bound, all with microscopic illustration.
.1 = Blue volume "Plates for the Essays on the Microscope"
.2 = Marbling cover volume "Plates to Adams"
.3 = Illustration on plants vascular bundle
.4 = Illustration on crystalisation of salt
.5 = Illustration on two shells
.6 = Illustration on an oval, flower-petal shape
.7 = Illustration on 36 organic objects
.8 = Illustration on an oval, flower-petal shape, "plate 14" on right upper corner
.9 = Illustration on 17 organic objects
.10 = Illustration on 68 organic objects
.11 = Illustration on 23 organic objects, "plate 26" on right upper corner
.12 = Illustration on crystalisation on minerals from 16-24
.13 = Illustration on an oval, flower-petal shape, half-printed
.14 = Illustration on an oval, flower-petal shape
.15 = Illustration on an oval, flower-petal shape
.16 = Illustration on an insect's wing
.17 = Illustration on an insect's wing
.18 = Illustration on an in sect
.19 = Illustration on plants' vascular bundle
.20 = Illustration on plants' vascular bundle
.21 = Illustration on organic objects
References
Events
Description
George Adams (1750-1795) inherited the family business of making scientific instruments from his father, George Adams the senior. Also a writer, he also published several books on topics of electricity, microscope, human vision, astronomy, and geography. In 1787, to better support his book "Essays on the Microscope", he published these two volumes of plates, containing illustration of microscopes, natural history, internal parts of insects, crystalisation of salt, shells, and others. The unbound plates include several copies of same illustration but half-finished, showing the process of etch printing.
26/07/2022
Created by: Guey-Mei Hsu on 26/07/2022
FM:47535
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