The Image of Restoration Science: The Frontispiece to Thomas Sprat’s History of the Royal Society (1667), by Michael Hunter, with a chapter on the instruments by Jim Bennett

Abstract

The early modern history of science has taken a visual and material turn. There have been several recent studies of the ‘collective wisdom’ of early modern scientific academies and the development of their museums, the evolution of natural history illustration, and the role of instruments and networks of instrument-makers in the development of natural philosophy. Michael Hunter’s latest book is part of this trend, devoted entirely to an analysis of the frontispiece of Thomas Sprat’s History of the Royal Society (1667). On the surface, it may appear extravagant or excessively antiquarian to devote a book, albeit a slender tome of 150 pages, to one image. However, this image is not only one of the best known representations of seventeenth-century English science, but one of the most complete representations of the early Royal Society. The Royal Society entirely lacked any equivalent to the lavish publications of the Académie des Sciences, with its elephant folios featuring detailed etchings by Sébastien Leclerc of its instrumental apparatus and activities.