• Exhibitions
  • HSM News
  • Education
  • Events
  • Collections
  • Art@HSM
  • Outreach
  • Women and Science
  • Multaka-Oxford
  • Oxford Science Stories
  • Decolonising the HSM Collection

Inside HSM Oxford

Stories from the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford

Astronomical Instruments

Making Prints Public: John Bird – Connecting the Collections

10 March 2014 by Naomi Sackett

Although our Making Prints Public project has been focused on cataloguing and researching the prints held in our collection, it has also highlighted the inter-connections between the prints and the object and library materials.

Scientific instrument maker John Bird (1709-1776) is a good example. Bird was particularly known for his large-scale astronomical instruments produced for observatories across Europe. His large mural quadrants (used to measure the altitude of celestial bodies) were constructed on new principles which greatly improved their accuracy. He was one of a series of outstanding mathematical instrument makers in eighteenth-century London whose new techniques of construction and high technical standards made the English instrument-making industry world-renowned.

The museum holds various items relating to Bird; prints, instruments and books. In the prints collection you can find a commemorative mezzotint by leading engraver Valentine Green. The mezzotint is particularly interesting viewed in the context of the collection as a whole as it illustrates all aspects of the museum’s relevant holdings; Bird seated alongside a table with a tool of his trade, a treatise on constructing quadrants, as well as a printed technical diagram of a quadrant.

John Bird

Mezzotint of John Bird of London, by Valentine Green after Lewis, Published by Valentine Green, London, 1776. Inv 14176

mezzotint_lettering_Bird

The printed diagram within the mezzotint includes the detail text ‘J. Bird Sculp’, indicating Bird engraved the printing plate himself. It was not unusual for scientific instrument makers to also be involved in printing. The act of engraving a printing plate and, for example, engraving scale gradations on a quadrant were similar techniques and there existed greater freedom to work based on technical skill rather than specific knowledge. John Senex, a bookseller, printer and map and globe-maker, is another example, and the museum holds both globes and prints attributed to him.

The engraving and printing of his own technical diagrams is confirmed through our other prints relating to Bird. We have three technical diagrams of his famous mural quadrant, all bearing the lettering ‘J. Bird Sculp’.

Bird_Mural_Quadrant

Engraving, Bird’s Mural Quadrant, Engraved by John Bird, London, c1768. Inv 14477

Bird_Mural_Detail

 

 

 

Bird’s interest in ‘showing his workings’ is further revealed through his published works held in our library collection. These books were published thanks to funding from the Board of Longitude, which alongside its remit to solve the longitude problem, also aimed to encourage any relevant developments and benefit the instrument-making trade. In 1766 Bird proposed to the Board that for £500 he would instruct others in making astronomical instruments and write an account of his method, resulting in his 1767 Method of Dividing Astronomical Instruments and 1768 Method of constructing mural quadrants exemplified by a description of the brass mural quadrant in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Catalogue records of these works can be found here on the University’s SOLO search.

One of Bird’s famous large mural quadrants can be seen on display, mounted on a wall next to the main stairs in the museum. It was commissioned by Thomas Hornsby (the first Radcliffe Observer) in advance of the foundation of the Oxford Radcliffe Observatory in 1772. Hornsby stated to the Trustees that ‘there is unquestionably but one person living, who is capable of making them’.

Much of the original equipment for the Radcliffe Observatory, including other work by John Bird, was donated in the 1930s and provides a rare example of a near-complete outfit of an eighteenth-century observatory.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: Astronomical Instruments, John Bird, Making Prints Public, Mural Quadrant, Prints
« Previous 1 2

Recent articles

  • Reframing the “Chardin” portrait
  • Epidemic encounters
  • Opportunities in a crisis: Silke’s Christmas message
  • First Impressions of the Portrait of Sir John Chardin
  • Beginning the Process of Decolonising the History of Science Museum’s Collection
  • How a handbag brings us together

HSM Website

Visit the Museum’s main website at www.hsm.ox.ac.uk to see details about visiting, the online collections catalogue, our current exhibitions, and upcoming events.

HSM Newsletter

Visit www.hsm.ox.ac.uk/newsletter to sign up to our newsletter. The newsletter will keep you up-to-date with our events, special exhibitions, general news, and opportunities to get involved in our work.

Follow Us @HSMOxford

  • View hsmoxford’s profile on Facebook
  • View hsmoxford’s profile on Twitter
  • View hsmoxford’s profile on Instagram
  • View mhsoxford’s profile on YouTube

Copyright © 2021 Inside HSM Oxford.

Sumo WordPress Theme by SumoThemes

  • @HSMOxford
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.