AN ORIGINAL ANDREW BELL COPPER PLATE
ENGRAVING FROM THE 1797 ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

THIS IS AN ORIGINAL ENGRAVING
OVER 215 YEARS OLD
AND NOT A LATER REPRODUCTION

This multi image engraving was originally bound into a volume of The Ecyclopedia Britannica 3rd edition 1797 and used to illustrate various articles.

This engraving may contain several images which relate to various topics.
Please view image in detail

The page measures approximately
10 inches x 7 3/4 inches
(255mm x 197mm)

The plate is a genuine 18th century original

Fine quality HAND MADE ~ LAID PAPER
free from any text on the reverse.

***THE CONDITION IS EXCELLENT***

Please view images to see any minor age related/handling marks

Please email with any questions regarding this item
(1797 Britannica -14 Vol 9)

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Andrew Bell (1726–1809) was a Scottish engraver and printer, who co-founded Encyclopædia Britannica with Colin Macfarquhar.

Bell was a colourful Scot. His height was 4 foot 6; he had crooked legs and an enormous nose that he would sometimes augment with a paper-mache version whenever anyone stared at his natural nose. Bell began work as an engraver of crests, names, etc. on dog collars. Despite his small stature, he deliberately rode the tallest horse available in Edinburgh, dismounting by a ladder to the cheers of onlookers.

Bell produced almost all of the copperplate engravings for the 1st-4th editions of the Britannica: 160 for the 1st, 340 for the 2nd, 542 for the 3rd, and 531 for the 4th. For the 1st edition, Bell produced three full pages of anatomically accurate depictions of dissected female pelvises and of foetuses in wombs for the midwifery article; these illustrations shocked King George III who commanded that the pages be ripped from every copy.

After Macfarquhar died in 1793, Bell bought out his heirs and became sole owner of the Britannica until his own death in 1809

HAND MADE LAID PAPER
The paper is original 18th century "Laid paper". Laid paper is a type of paper
having a ribbed texture imparted by the manufacturing process in the 18th
century. In pre-mechanical papermaking (from the 12th century into the 19th
century), the laid pattern was produced by the wire sieve in the
rectangular mold used to produce single sheets of paper. A worker would dip
the mold into a vat containing diluted linen pulp, then lift it out, tilt
it to spread the pulp evenly over the sieve, and, as the water drained out
between the wires, shake the mold to lock the fibers together. In the
process, the pattern of the wires in the sieve was imparted to the sheet of paper