Date of Award

12-2024

Degree Name

MA in History

Department/Program

History

College

College of Liberal Arts

Advisor

Thanayi Jackson

Advisor Department

History

Advisor College

College of Liberal Arts

Abstract

Joseph Moxon, raised within the trades, elevated into the middle-class, was an inducted Fellow of the Royal Society, Hydrographer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, Printer, Author, Translator, Maker of Globes and of Spheres, Maker of Maps and of Mathematical Instruments, Engraver, and Entrepreneur. Moxon was the quintessential Renaissance Man. A tradesman living in a time of great scientific intrigue and discovery, Moxon, acknowledged by few mid-seventeenth century historians, rightfully contributed his scientific discoveries—in the forms of tutorials and manuals written for the common man—as a testimony to all printers who have helped in the progression of the Scientific Revolution. For without them, books would not have been printed, knowledge would not have been shared, and innovation and discovery would have been possibly retarded and/or stifled. This paper presents his story through the acclaimed yet forgotten works of Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises Volume I and Volume II as the first scientifically influenced instructional manuals and guides for the trades and as the foundation for acknowledging the printing press as the catalyst for democratizing knowledge.

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