Tweet

https://twitter.com/Rorscha72228357/status/1405844750461280262?s=20

More from @antonhowes

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

14 Aug 20

Possible candidate for most influential person in England in mid-16thC:

Sebastian Cabot

Increasingly certain - his name just keeps on cropping up! - that he was responsible for the introduction of patents, and joint stock companies, not to mention England’s age of exploration

Probably born in Venice (though he thought Bristol), Cabot was one of the major pioneers of celestial navigation, pretty much being poached back from Spanish service in the 1540s so that England could become a maritime nation (strange to think it, but before then it was not)

He was named on the first monopoly patent of discovery in 1496, which was obtained by his father, the explorer Zuan Chabotto (John Cabot). And soon after he returned to England, he reclaimed it, getting an official copy made in 1550.

Read 8 tweets

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

31 Jul 20

Today I've fallen down the Venetian 15thC patents rabbit hole. One of my hunches proving correct: that what we would now call copyright was indistinguishable at the time from a patent.

One thing that's also especially curious is that the early privileges for printing books in England were granted, not with the onerous procedure of obtaining a full patent under the Great Seal, but "by placard". Wondering if there were any inventions privileged by placard...

A few things patented in Venice from the 1490s onwards: the introduction of italics, printed sheet music, and a woodcut technique for producing shaded illustrations instead of just line drawings. Copyright and patents only seem to become distinct in 18thC.

Read 12 tweets

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

29 Jul 20

Who invented the steam engine?

The usual answer focuses on British inventors like Thomas Newcomen, or Thomas Savery. They were both active in the late 17thC.

But there's also a much earlier, Spanish claimant... (Thread)

antonhowes.substack.com/p/age-of-inven…

The claimant is Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont, an aristocrat and military engineer from Navarre.

He managed the Spanish royal mines, and in the late 16thC invented a host of devices, from diving equipment and mine ventilation systems, to improved mills, pumps, and furnaces.

And since a biography of Ayanz was published in 2010, he's become increasingly well-known in Spain for his invention of a steam engine - almost a century before Thomas Savery.

But did he really beat Savery to it? Well, it depends on what you mean by "steam engine".

Read 19 tweets

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

13 Jul 20

You see blue plaques dotted all over Britain, commemorating such-and-such a famous person who lived in a building. They seem, at first glance, just a nice reminder of history.

But that was not their original purpose. And nor were they always blue. A thread.

The idea began in the 1860s, with the utilitarian MP William Ewart. His claim to fame, in the 1850s, had been to pass laws enabling local authorities to raise taxes to pay for public museums and libraries.

And with the plaques, he had similar educational aims.

Ewart proposed in Parliament that signs of some kind be erected to celebrate people who had done things to advance the arts, sciences, and culture. Politicians and generals, after all, got plenty of statues. By celebrating the arts of peace, those activities would be encouraged.

Read 15 tweets

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

26 Jun 20

Because of colonialism and widespread printing, we know a lot about what Europeans thought of Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries

But what did Asian visitors think of Europe?

A thread:

Early Asian visitors to Europe unfortunately very rarely left records. But sometimes, even the smallest fragments tell us volumes.

Take Michael Shen Fuzong, a Chinese convert to Catholicism, who came to Europe in the 1680s to become a Jesuit priest.

antonhowes.substack.com/p/age-of-inven…

Upon his arrival, Shen Fuzong became an instant celebrity. He met the Pope, Louis XIV of France, and James II of England. James even had a full-length portrait of him painted, to hang in the king's own bedroom (pictured).

And he met many of England's prominent intellectuals.

Read 18 tweets

Dr Anton Howes

@antonhowes

17 Jun 20

A personal story about copyright, and why it needs reform.

At Christmas time last year, my book publisher got in touch to just double-check that we had the rights to use the image they were going to use for the cover. This one:

To my horror, I discovered that I had actually hugely misread UK copyright law, and had to scramble over the holiday break to make sure I had the rights to ALL the illustrations in time.

And for the most part, this was easy.

If the artist was alive, I just got in touch. If it was in the RSA's archive and from the 18th or 19th centuries, then I just had to get permission from them for the photographs of those images, and original images were otherwise out of copyright.

But not so for the early 20thC.

Read 15 tweets

Share this page!

Dr Anton Howes

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @antonhowes

Dr Anton Howes

Dr Anton Howes

Dr Anton Howes

Dr Anton Howes

Dr Anton Howes

Dr Anton Howes

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?