Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London
The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, a learned periodical published in London from 1666 for natural philosophers and fellows of the Royal Society. Its plates are engraved and drawn diagrams of astronomical observations, curved arcs with marked graduations, and clusters of small circular sketches. A designer might take from them the precise, hand-ruled look of early scientific notation: fine line work, annotated scales and tidy grids of observed forms.
