ABSTRACT
The instruments assembled in the frontispiece repay individual scrutiny. On the one hand, the known circumstances of the production of the etching add to our knowledge of these objects, for it soon becomes evident that they were real instruments, not merely projections or proposals. On the other hand, the nature of the objects and the overall character of the selection add to what can be said about the project of making the frontispiece. Since there is evidence that the great majority of these instruments were real, it is tempting to extend that assumption to them all. No doubt there are inaccuracies in depiction at this small scale, but evident inconsistencies in how they are rendered do not mean that an object itself was wishful or imaginary. In the one case where an object in the frontispiece has survived to the present day, namely the society’s mace, we know that an inaccurate depiction sits alongside its historical existence. Perhaps real objects were obligated by the motto hanging above them all: ‘Nullius in Verba’.
