Lexicon Technicum: or, an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves

HARRIS, John

Edité par Printed for Dan Brown, Tim. Goodwin, John Walthoe, Tho. Newborough, John Nicholson, Tho. Benskin, Benj. Tooke, Dan. Midwinter, Tho. Leigh, and Francis Coggan, London, 1704

A propos de cet article

THE FIRST TECHNICAL DICTIONARY IN ANY LANGUAGE (PMM 171) . First edition of perhaps the most important single source for the history of science and engineering at the end of the scientific revolution. Its emphasis on technology, comparatively poorly covered by seventeenth century books, is particularly valuable primary material, while the author's access to Newton and others has been frequently emphasized. "Harris' most famous work was the Lexicon technicum, the first edition of which appeared in 1704. This was the first general scientific encyclopedia, and for it Harris drew upon some of the greatest authorities of the day. In physics, astronomy, and mathematics he turned to Newton; in botany he consulted John Ray and Joseph Tournefort; in other areas he drew upon Halley, Robert Boyle, Nehemiah Grew, John Woodward, John Wilkins, William Derham, and John Collins" (DSB). "The preface of vol. I mentions Newton many times as a source, and lengthy excepts from his works appear under such headings as comets, fluxions, gravity, heat, moon, motion, telescopes, tides ." (Babson). "John Harris . was the earliest lexicographer to distinguish between a word-book (dictionary, in modern parlance) and a subject-book (encyclopaedia proper), thereby overcoming the confusion which Isidore had introduced a thousand years earlier. His Lexicon technicum appears to be the first technical dictionary in any language. The most famous of his contributors was Isaac Newton" (PMM 171a). "Harris, who was an improvident divine and scientist, gave emphasis to practical and scientific subjects at the expense of the humanities. As a Fellow of the Royal Society (and its acting Vive-President for a time), he had ready access to many of the greatest scholars of the day, and his use of the works of such scientists as Ray and Newton is probably the first example of an encyclopaedia-maker drawing directly on the advice and help of experts and, as such, is the original precursor of the modern system of inviting contributions from specialists . Harris's encyclopaedia was distinguished not only for its excellent plates, but also for its text-line drawings and diagrams, and for its provision of bibliographies of the more important scientific subjects. So far, England had been translating French encyclopaedias for domestic use; within a few years the leading French encyclopaedia was to be based on the English works of Harris and his successors . to Harris must go the honours of compiling the first true English encyclopaedia" (Collison, p. 99 & 103). A second edition of vol. I was published in 1708, two years before the first edition of vol. II, and it is relatively unusual therefore to find the first edition of both volumes together. The subscription list in Vol. II has Newton down for a large paper copy of the Lexicon. Provenance: Armorial bookplate of Robert Raymond, one of the subscribers, on front pastedown of each volume, with motto Aequam Servare Mentem. First volume inscribed 'June 29, 1704' on front free endpaper. "John Harris (1666-1719) was one of the most influential mathematics teachers in London, and one of the first to adopt Newton's natural philosophy. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1696, and for a short period (1709-10) he was Secretary, but he suffered Hans Sloane's opposition. In 1698 he delivered the Boyle lectures at St Paul's Cathedral. As a teacher, Harris was never connected with an institution: in around 1698 he began to give free public lectures on mathematics at the Marine Coffee-House in Birchin Lane . Harris's most successful work was the Lexicon Technicum, a huge scientific dictionary in two volumes" (Guicciardini, p. 14). "Although Newton's influence on science and on philosophy was primarily produced by the Principia, the men and women of the eighteenth century were aware that the Newtonian philosophy embraced more than the combination of mathematics and empirical evidence which characterized that great work. We may gain som.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Lexicon Technicum: or, an Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves
• Éditeur: Printed for Dan Brown, Tim. Goodwin, John Walthoe, Tho. Newborough, John Nicholson, Tho. Benskin, Benj. Tooke, Dan. Midwinter, Tho. Leigh, and Francis Coggan, London
• Date de parution: 1704
• Édition: First edition.
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Printing and the Mind of Man