JF Ptak Science Books: A Beautiful Pre-Semi-Visionary Structuralization of Information (1733)

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The History of Ideas Blog by John Ptak is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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A Beautiful Pre-Semi-Visionary Structuralization of Information (1733)

JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post

The central image in the opening salvo in Thomas Bowles' Geography Epitomiz'd. Of The Stars And Planets. Of The Sun And Moon. Of the Air and Meteors. The Terms of Geography Explain'd (1733) reminds me a great deal of later visionary and outsider works. It is a beautiful way to display and solidify vast chunks of data into a cohesive (and pretty and appealing) whole, an interesting structure that calms the dynamics of divergent information. It's a lovely piece of design and imagination.
[Source: New York Public Libraries Digital Collections]