'A Society of Gentlemen in Scotland'
Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
£25,200
Auction: 05 February 2025 from 10:00 GMT
Description
compiled upon a New Plan. In which the Different Sciences and Arts are digested into Distinct Treatises or Systems; and the Various Technical Terms, etc. are explained as they occur in the order of the Alphabet. Edinburgh: printed for A. Bell and C. MacFarquhar; and sold by Colin MacFarquhar, 1771. 3 volumes, 4to in half-sheets (26.1 x 20cm), contemporary calf-backed glazed blue paper boards, viii 586 [10] 587-697, [4] 1009 [3], [4] 280 283-678 879-953 [1] pp. (volume 3 textually complete despite erratic pagination), half-title to each volume, 159 engraved plates (of 160, lacking plate 112, in ‘Midwifery’ section), plates 117-132 printed on either side of 8 sheets, plate 146 folding, volume 2 also containing 3 folding chemistry tables and one folding grammatical table, bindings rubbed with some loss of paper, volumes 2 and 3 each with loss to head of spine and front free endpapers removed, plates 64 and 78 each with small closed tear to upper inner corner, plate 111 (depicting foetuses in utero) marked and with closed tear to foot, plate 133 (music score) bound slightly askew and consequently shaved at lower fore edge, plate 146 somewhat creased, closed tear to grammatical table in volume 2 [Printing and the Mind of Man 218] (3)
Provenance
From the library of the Murrays of Dollerie, Crieff, Perthshire.
Footnote
First edition of ‘the most famous of all encyclopaedias in the English language’ (PMM). A landmark Enlightenment text, it was originally issued in 100 weekly parts between 1768 and 1771; sets in any state of completeness are rare on the market and it was been remarked that the three gynaecological plates illustrating the midwifery article were considered so graphic by contemporary audiences that they were often ripped out and threats of legal action were made against the publishers (Kogan, The Great EB: The Story Of The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1958, p. 13). The other plates include depictions of human anatomy, animals and other natural history subjects, scientific instruments and industrial apparatus, geometrical propositions, and miscellaneous subjects ranging from types of cannon to specimens of shorthand; there are also several plates of music score and a small number of maps. A second edition appeared in London in 1773.