Orrery Collection plane table and alidade
R.T. Gunther printed Thomas Wright's 1731 "An Inventory of the Mathematicall Instrumts: in the Library of the Rt Honle: ye Earl of Orrery Deceast" in Early Science in Oxford, vol. I (Oxford, 1923), 380-382. The third section of the list is "In the Great Room, the first Drawer" and begins with item 18:
"A small Plane Table, Ball & Socket, & a brass Index and Sights"
At p. 374 Gunther describes the plane table and this particular alidade and illustrates them together on the facing plate. Although the alidade is perhaps a little large for this size of table, it seems a plausible pairing of surviving items.
Other narratives:
- Inventory no. 18184 - Former Display Label
- Orrery Collection: 1731 Inventory
- Orrery Collection in print
- Accession Record : Extract from Annual Report for 1925
- Former Display Label - The Orrery Collection of Scientific Instruments
- Former Display Label - The Principal Makers of Instruments in the Orrery Collection