Brother Andrew Bell

1726–1809

Member of:

St. David Lodge #36, Edinburgh, Scotland

Scottish engraver and printer, who co-founded Encyclopædia Britannica with Colin Macfarquhar.

Brother Bell produced almost all of the copperplate engravings for the 1st-4th editions of the Britannica: 160 for the 1st, 340 for the 2nd, 542 for the 3rd, and 531 for the 4th. By contrast, the 50 plates of the Supplement to the 3rd edition were engraved by D. Lizars. For the 1st edition, Bell produced three full pages of anatomically accurate depictions of dissected female pelvises and of fetuses in wombs for the midwifery article; these illustrations shocked King George III who commanded that the pages be ripped from every copy.