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Joseph Moxon | |
|---|---|
 Engraving of Joseph Moxon, 1692, by Frederick Hendrik van Hove. | |
| Born | (1627-08-08)8 August 1627 |
| Died | February 1691(1691-02-00) (aged 63) |
| Nationality | English |
Joseph Moxon (8 August 1627 – February 1691),[1] hydrographer to Charles II, was an English printer specialising in mathematical books and maps, a maker of globes and mathematical instruments, and mathematical lexicographer. He produced the first English-language dictionary devoted to mathematics, the first detailed instructional manual for printers, and the first English-language how-to books for tradesmen. In November 1678, he became the first tradesman to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Life
Joseph Moxon was born on 8 August 1627 in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Around 1638, at an age between 9 and 11, he accompanied his father, James Moxon, to Delft and Rotterdam where James was printing English Bibles. It was at this time that Moxon learned the basics of printing.
Printer
After the First English Civil War the family returned to London and Moxon and his older brother, James, started a printing business which specialized in the publication of Puritan texts, with the notable exception of A Book of Drawing, Limning, Washing or Colouring of Mapps and Prints of 1647 which was produced for Thomas Jenner, a seller of maps.
In 1652, Moxon visited Amsterdam and commissioned the engraving of globe-printing plates, and by the end of the year was selling large celestial and terrestrial globes in a new business venture. He specialised in the printing of maps and charts, and in the production of globes, and mathematical instruments made of paper.
Moxon's Mechanick exercises was published in parts between 1677 and 1684. It was completed in two volumes: the first giving instructions on metalworking, woodworking, brick-laying and sundial-construction; and the second (issued 1683–1684) providing a detailed series of instructions for printers, including typefounding, composition, press-work etc., which have given printing historians much (probably idealised) information on the working practices of hand-press period printing-houses.[2]
Hydrographer
In January 1662, he was appointed hydrographer to the King, despite his Puritan background. His shop at this time was on Ludgate Hill; afterwards, in 1683, it was "on the west side of Fleet Ditch", but always "at the sign of Atlas".[3]
Moxon theorized that the Arctic was ice free, and warmed by twenty-four hours of sunlight in the summer. He also speculated that Arctic ice was created near land, and that if one sailed far enough northwards, one would be free of northern land masses and, subsequently, ice.
These views led him to believe that the Northwest Passage would be found by sailing near the North Pole. These views later influenced Daines Barrington and Samuel Engel, whose refinement of Moxon's ideas would influence Captain Cook's Third Voyage in search of the Northwest Passage.
Death
When Moxon died in 1691 his estate and business was carried on by his son, mapmaker, engraver and instrument-maker James Moxon.[4]
Works
- A Tutor to Astronomy & Geography. Or, The Use of the Copernican Spheres. London (1665)
- Mechanick Exercises or the Doctrine of Handy-Works, 2 volumes. London (1677-1683).
- A collection of some attempts made to the North-East, and North-West, for the finding a passage to Japan, China, &c. London (1676)
- With Thomas Tuttell. Mathematicks made easie, or, A mathematical dictionary explaining the terms of art and difficult phrases used in arithmetick, geometry, astronomy, astrology, and other mathematical sciences. London (1700)
- Mechanick Exercises or the Doctrine of Handy-Works. London (1703 edition) [3]
Notes
- ^ Royal Society archives state his death date as 28 February; the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that he was buried on 15 February
- ^ An annotated edition, edited by Harry Carter and Herbert Davis, was published in 1958 and reprinted with corrections in 1962.
- ^ a b Laughton 1894.
- ^ Worms, Laurence. (2011). British map engravers : a dictionary of engravers, lithographers and their principal employers to 1850. Baynton-Williams, Ashley. London: Rare Book Society. ISBN 978-0-9569422-0-3. OCLC 726597747.
References
- Eells, W.C., "The First Mathematical Dictionary", The Mathematics Teacher, Vol.54, No.4, (April 1961), pp.255-260.
- Hallerberg, A.E., "Joseph Moxon, Mathematical Practitioner", The Mathematics Teacher, Vol.55, No.6 (October 1962), pp.490-492.
- Hargrave, J.E. (2015), "Joseph Moxon: A Re-Fashioned Appraisal", Script & Print: Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, Vol.39, No.3, (September 2015), pp.163-181.
- Jagger, G., "Joseph Moxon, FRS, and the Royal Society", Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol.49, No.2, (July 1995), pp.193-208. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1995.0023
- Laughton, John Knox (1894). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Malone, E.A., "The Use of Playing Cards to Communicate Technical and Scientific Information", Technical Communication, Vol.55, No.1 (February 2008), pp.49-60.
- Turner, A.J., "Mathematical Instruments and the Education of Gentlemen", Annals of Science, Vol.30, No.1, (1973) pp.51-88. doi:10.1080/00033797300200031
4 Annotations
First Reading
Bill Burns • Link
From Wikipedia:
Joseph Moxon (8 August 1627 - February 1691), Hydrographer to Charles II, was an English printer of mathematical books and maps, a maker of globes and mathematical instruments, and mathematical lexicographer. He produced the first English language dictionary devoted to mathematics. In November 1678 he became the first tradesman to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Between the ages of around 9 and 11, Moxon accompanied his father, James Moxon, to Delft and Rotterdam where he was printing English bibles. It was a this time that Moxon learned the basics of printing. After the First English Civil War the family returned to London and Moxon and his older brother James started a printing business which specialized in the publication of puritan texts, with the notable exception of A Book of Drawing, Limning, Washing or Colouring of Mapps and Prints of 1647 which was produced for Thomas Jenner, a seller of maps.
In 1652 Moxon visited Amsterdam and commissioned the engraving of globe-printing plates, and by the end of the year was selling large celestial and terrestrial globes in a new business venture. He specialized in the printing of maps and charts, and in the production of globes, and mathematical instruments made of paper.
In January 1662 he was appointed hydrographer to the King, despite his puritan background.
Michael Robinson • Link
Joseph Moxon – a few additional details
Moxon’s first publication was “A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography; or, An Easie and Speedy way to Understand the Use of both the Globes, Celestial and Terrestrial”. (1654) a translation from William Blaeu. Later he published under his own name “Astronomie and Geographie: Or an Easie and speedy way to Know the Use of both the Globes, Celestial and Terrestrial. In Six books” (1659)
He is, however best known for his “Mechanick Exercises,” one of the most famous works on typography an for forty years the first manual of printing in any language covering absolutely all that was known about the subjects at the end of the C 17th., and first put into writing a knowledge that was wholly traditional. “He did his work so well that it was appropriated by compilers of technical encyclopedias and printers’ grammars; so that parts of Moxon, disguised under other names, remained a standard work until the great part of printing had ceased to be a ‘handy work’ and his doctrine had a less obvious application to it.”
There is a full biography printed in the introduction to the modern standard edition:-
Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing (1683 – 4) Edited by Herbert Davis & Harry Carter, Oxford: OUP, 1962 (2nd . ed.) (rpr. NY: Dover, 1978) pp. xix -lv
Second Reading
Bill • Link
Joseph Moxon, hydrographer to Charles II. was an excellent practical mathematician. He composed, translated, and published, a great variety of books relative to the sciences. He particularly excelled in geography, and was a great improver of maps, spheres, and globes, the last of which he carried to a higher degree of perfection, than any Englishman had done before him. Besides his treatises of geography, astronomy, navigation, &c. he published a book of "Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrines of Handy-Works," &c. This book, which is in two volumes quarto, is uncommon. Dr. Johnson often quotes him in his Dictionary, as the best authority for the common terms of mechanic arts. There is a pack of astronomical playing cards invented by him, "teaching any ordinary capacity, by them, to be acquainted with all the stars in heaven, to know their place, colour, nature, bigness: as also the poetical reasons for every constellation."— He was living at the sign of the Atlas, in Warwick-Lane, 1692.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1775.
Bill • Link
MOXON, JOSEPH (1627-1700), hydrographer and mathematician; visited Holland; settled in London, 1657; sold mathematical and geographical instruments and maps; nominated hydrographer to the king, 1660; published 'Mechanick Exercises,' 1678, and works on astronomy, geography, architecture, mathematics, and typography.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.