Encyclopaedia londinensis, or,

Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature

1810-29

Originally from Winchester, John Wilkes was an established London printer, bookseller and publisher, and the proprietor of the Hampshire Chronicle, one of England’s oldest continuing publications. In 1810 Wilkes published the first eight volumes of his Encyclopaedia londinensis with a volume published almost every year thereafter until the twenty fourth and last in 1829. Compiled and arranged by Wilkes much of the information came from other small works not always his own as was often the case with such compendiums, and indeed he was successfully sued for the not unsubstantial sum of £100 by Charles Roworth author of Art of Defence with the Broad Sword for piracy.

Many of the engravings for the Encyclopaedia londinensis were executed by the extremely gifted John Pass, also originally from Winchester. Pass used his own work as well as existing images by some of the finest artists of his time, making amendments where necessary to correlate to the Encyclopaedia. Sadly Pass’s lasting fame came not from his life but rather his death. In 1832 whilst collecting a debt Pass was brutally murdered in the workshop of the young printer James Cook. Cook dismembered the body but having become quite inebriated left the pieces burning in an open grate and went home. The chimney caught fire and neighbours alerted the police; Cook absconded but was later arrested trying to gain passage to America. He was hanged in Leicester; his body was ‘anatomised’ by students, then redressed, placed in a gibbet, and put on display. He was the last man in England to be so exhibited; the crowd became so disorderly and ‘licentious’ that he was immediately buried.

The Encyclopaedia londinensisis provides an eloquent visual presentation of the history and most recent developments in the Arts and Sciences of the time, and serves as an extraordinary record of the talents of Pass and his contemporaries. These particular examples of the Encyclopaedia londinensisis are in fine original hand colour, expertly and lavishly applied with no expense spared, and are without known equal.

Below are a few examples from this collection. Please click on an image to see it in high-resolution with details of the work itself. For the full list of original antique Wilkes engravings available,  please do contact us.

Hindu Zodiac:: The outer ring consists of the twelve signs of the zodiac. with constellations of different names but comparable to those of Western traditions (Pisces, Aries, Scorpio, etc.). The inner ring of the zodiac represents the Sun, the five naked-eye planets, and the Moon and its ascending and descending nodes. Each of the celestial bodies is associated with a Hindu deity. 1. The Sun (Shiva). 2. The Moon (Uma). 3. Mars (Skanda, the son of Shiva). 4. Mercury (Vishnu). 5. Jupiter (Brahman). 6. Venus (Indra). 7. Saturn (Yama). 8. Dragon’s head (ascending node). 9. Dragon’s tail (descending node). The celestial bodies orbit around Mt. Meru, the mythological five-peaked mountain at the centre of the physical and spiritual universe in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology.

Projection of Globes and Maps: Diagrams illustrating the mathematics behind various map projections used to convert a spherical globe into a flat map.

Armillary sphere (used to simulate the orbits of the heavenly bodies): With, a Terrestrial globe, and a Celestial globe.

Phenomena of the Earth: Four diagrams illustrating the theories of seasons, the day-night cycle, and solar time (sundials).

Aztec Calendar: The Serpent, symbol of the calendar, surrounds the 4 year-bearers (Tochtli, Cagli, Tecpatl and Acatl), the moon phases and the symbols for the 18 month year and 52 year century.

Stereographic Projection with Churchman’s New Projection for Mountainous Countries: Diagrams illustrating the use of contour lines to map elevation and underwater depths.