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Copying images in the archives of the early Royal Society

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Abstract

In this article we argue that the copying of text and image was a key process in acquiring, approving, and recording knowledge in the early Royal Society of London. In particular, we focus on how the administrative archives were set up and sustained in the nascent Society to preserve and establish new knowledge through a copying practice. Images were copied alongside texts to facilitate their collaborative scientific practice; to communicate essential features of an argument; to serve as proof of rare phenomena; and to establish priority for an invention or an idea. This copying practice was part of a unique system of emphasizing, prioritizing, and preserving, for contemporary and future Fellows what was deemed important, ground-breaking, or useful knowledge.

Description

Keywords

Royal Society, record-keeping, archives, drawings, images, copying

Journal Title

Word and Image

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0266-6286
1943-2178

Volume Title

35

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/M001938/1)
AHRC-funded project “Making Visible: the visual and graphic practices of the early Royal Society,” AHRC Grant Reference: AH/M001938/1.