As evidenced in the sustained revision, expansion, and republication of Jacques Ozanam’s original work on recreational experiments from the late seventeenth century to the nineteenth, optical technologies and rational experiments stimulated the Romantic visual imagination and reinforced the emphasis on edification and self-improvement through efforts at practical education in the domestic spher

“Plate II” features seven illustrations to accompany the sections of Priestley’s text, entitled “Period I: The Revival of Letters in Europe,” and “Period II: From the Revival of letters in Europe to the discoveries of Snellius and Descartes.” Figure 10 illustrated a parabolic mirror or burning mirror, the type of which was used to light fires in ancient times by focusing the sun’s rays; P

“Plate 15” from Nouvelles recreations exemplifies the dual purpose of many scientific recreation texts: to explain the physical science in question and to instruct the reader on how to easily recreate and perform scientific experiments.

“Plate 57” features seven illustrations to accompany Chapters XV, XVI, and XVII of Book III in A Compleat System of Opticks; these chapters describe the science behind a variety of optical and image-making machines. Figure 635 is a type of portable camera obscura for drawing made by a Mr. Scarlet, who had a shop near St.

Recreations in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy is an example of the popularization of rational recreations texts in the Romantic period, particularly for use in the home. It explains how to create optical instruments and understand their effects on recreational scientific experiments.

Illustrations of Natural Philosophy highlights the continued amateur interest in investigations of the natural sciences during the Romantic period. The camera obscura is positioned in the lower right corner, near two illustrations of the human eye, as well as the magic lantern and the “Endless Gallery” optical illusion.