JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
This is the heart of the beautiful orrey created by William Pearson (1767-1847, and one of the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society) as found in the magisterial if not occasionally problematic Cyclopedia of Abraham Rees (1743-1825). It was published in 1817 and features the main gearing for a mechanical display of the functioning of the Solar System:
This is the detail from the following, full-length version, which is 8″x10″–so there’s a fair amount of detail in a limited field:
And the beautiful Dadaist detail of Jupiter and Saturn:
- The original print is available from the blog’s bookstore, here.