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Benjamin Martin: Author, Instrument-Maker, and ‘Country Showman’ PDF

253 Pages·1976·13.065 MB·English
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Preview Benjamin Martin: Author, Instrument-Maker, and ‘Country Showman’

BENJAMIN MARTIN AUTHOR, INSTRUMENT-MAKER, AND 'COUNTRY SHOWMAN' SCIENCE IN HISTORY GeneralEditor:G.L'E. TURNER University of Oxford ADVISORY BOARD LUIS DE ALBUQUERQUE University of Coimbra J. L. HEILBRON University of California W. F. RYAN University of London C. WEBSTER University of Oxford 2 BENJAMIN MARTIN 'BENJAMIN MARTIN, Optician. From an Original Portrait' Published posthumously in The Gentleman's Magazine for August 1785, this engraving was taken from a painting then in the possession of the editor, John Nichols. Later that year the painting was given to Richard Greene for his Museum at Lichfield; its sub sequent fate is unknown. From the position of the buttons, which are on the wrong side for a man, it is likely that the original portrait faced the other way. BENJAMIN MARTIN AUTHOR, INSTRUMENT-MAKER, AND 'COUNTRY SHOWMAN' by JOHN R. MILLBURN Leyden N oordhoff International Publishing 1976 © 1976 N oordhoff International Publishing Sof'tcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1976 A division of A. W. Sijthoff International Publishing Company B.V. Leyden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN-13: 978-94-011-7884-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-011-7882-2 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-011-7882-2 Set-in-type in the United Kingdom Contents List ofI llustrations Vlll Acknowledgements 1X Notes on Units and References Xl Chapters 1 Introduction and Early Life, 1705-35 1 2 Schoolmaster and Author, 1735-7 11 3 Dilettante and Microscope Maker, 1737-40 22 4 Itinerant Lecturer, 174{}-55 35 5 Philology and the General Magazine 65 6 Establishment of the Fleet Street Business, 1756-9 84 7 Consolidation: the 1760s 118 8 The 1770s 152 9 Death and Aftermath 172 Notes and References 183 Appendices I Short-title List of Martin's Publications 193 II Manuscripts Relating to Benjamin Martin 211 III Martin's Catalogue of Instruments, Books and Prints, 1762 218 IV Locations of Representative Martin Instruments 224 V Bibliography of Printed Sources, other than Martin's Publications 227 General Index 235 Vll List of Illustrations Plates Frontispiece: Portrait of Benjamin Martin I A scene illustrating the setting envisaged by Martin for The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy 72 II A map of New England, from the General Magazine, 1755 81 III A drawing by Martin of his own microscopical obser- vations, from the General Magazine, 1755 82 IV Optical cabinets 91 V Planetarium and coin balances 99 VI Horizontal sundial and reflecting telescopes 106 VII Martin's first all-brass universal compound microscope, from Philosophia Britannica 115 VIII J. L. Martin's octant and G. Wright's sundial 166 Text Figures 1 Title page of Martin's Pocket Microscope tract, 1738 24 2 Martin's pocket microscope: sketch based on the plate and description in his 1738 tract 25 3 Martin's 1742 universal microscope: sketch based on the plate in Micrographia Nova 31 4 Title page of Martin's Course of Lectures, 1743 42 5 Fleet Street and its tributaries in the mid- eighteenth century 87 6 Martin's 'visual glasses', re-drawn from the plate 1fl Essay on Visual Glasses, 1756 92 7 Martin's table clock and its escapement, 1770 155 viii Acknowledgements In compiling the material for this book I have received much assistance from the staff of reference libraries, museums, archive depositories, and other institutions in Great Britain and overseas. I would particularly like to thank Mr Gerard L 'E. Turner, Senior Assis tant Curator of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford, and Mr Peter J. Wallis, Reader in Historical Bibliography of Education at Newcastle University, for many helpful discussions on Martin's products and publications respectively. The numerous other in stitutions, organizations, and individuals whose resources I have drawn upon, either directly or via correspondence, include (in London unless stated otherwise): The Adler Planetarium, Chicago; Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.; Bath Public Reference Library, Avon; Berkshire Mercury Archives, Reading; Berkshire Record Office, Reading; Birmingham Public Reference Library, Birmingham; Bodleian Library, Oxford; British Library; British Museum; British Optical Association; Derby Public Reference Library, Derby; Deutsches Museum, Munich; Messrs Charles Franks Ltd., Glasgow; Gloucester Public Reference Library, Gloucester; Goodwood Estate Co. Ltd., Chichester; Guildford Muniment Room, Guildford; Mr R. D. Gurney; Harriet Wynter Arts and Sciences; Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Libraries of Birmingham, Edinburgh, and London Univer sities, and of University College. London (Graves Collection); Lon don Library; Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence; National Maritime Museum; National Portrait Gallery; Norfolk Museums Ser vice, Norwich; Public Record Office; Royal Astronomical Society; Royal Institution; Royal Microscopical Society, Oxford; Royal Scot- ix Acknowledgements tish Museum, Edinburgh; Royal Society; Royal Society of Arts; Royal Society of Medicine; Dr W. F. Ryan; Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Salford; Science Museum; Mr A. J. Turner; Victoria and Albert Museum; Wellcome Historical Medical Museum; West Sussex Record Office, Chichester; Whipple Museum for the History of Science, Cambridge (Mr D. J. Bryden, Curator); Wiirttembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart; and several owners of private collections who wish to remain anonymous. The detailed invoices for goods supplied by Martin to Harvard College, Massachusetts, in the 1760s, which are quoted in full in Chapter 7, are published here by kind permission of the Curator of the Harvard University Archives. I am particularly indebted to Mr John Lancaster, Mr Ebenezer Gay, and Mr Clark A. Elliott, of the Houghton Library, the Collection of Historical Scientific Instru ments, and the University Archives, respectively, for assistance in locating and obtaining copies of the relevant documents, and for supplying information on the instruments and publications con cerned. I am also indebted to Boston Public Library, Massachusetts, for the loan of copies of manuscripts in their possession that relate to the Harvard orders. Dr Henry C. King, of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, with whom I am happy to be collaborating on another project, kindly read and commented on the first draft of the typescript. For permission to reproduce certain plates I am indebted to the British Library, the Science Museum, London, and the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. Plates IVa, Va, VIa, and VlIIa are Crown copyright. Illustrations not acknowledged in the captions are from my own collection. John R. Millburn Aylesbury, July 1975. x Notes on Units and References Units Some of the extracts from Martin's works and catalogues given ver batim in this book necessarily include units of measurement, especially where dimensions of instruments are concerned. The prin cipal units in the system that he used for linear measure were as follows: 1 yard (0· 914 metre) 3 feet 36 inches 1 foot (305 millimetres) 12 inches 1 inch (25·4 millimetres) subdivided fractionally. For accounting purposes, the basic monetary system was pounds sterling ([,), shillings (s.) and [old] pence (d.): 1 pound sterling 20 shillings = 240 [old] pence 1 shilling = 12 [old] pence. As there was no coin or note of value [,1, prices were often quoted in guineas and half-guineas, for which there were gold coins: 1 guinea = [,11s.0d. = 21 shillings Half-guinea = 10s.6d. No universally-applicable factor for the value of eighteenth-century money in today's currency can be given, as not only have prices in general risen considerably but also the relative costs of various goods and services have changed. As a very rough guide it may be reckoned Xl

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