F e a t u r e d I t e m s 4 “The Greatest Work In The History Of Science”: First Edition In English Of Newton’s Principia 1. NEWTON, Isaac. The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Translated into English by Andrew Motte. To which are added, the Laws of the Moon’s Motion, according to Gravity. London, 1729. Two volumes. Octavo, modern full paneled brown calf gilt. $125,000. First edition in English of Newton’s Principia, published two years after his death, with 49 folding plates and tables. This copy with the scarce engraved frontispieces (in Volume II bound opposite page 148, as sometimes found). First published in Latin in 1687, “the Principia is generally described as the greatest work in the history of science. Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had certainly shown the way; but where they described the phenomena they observed, Newton explained the underlying universal laws. The Principia provided the greatest synthesis of the cosmos, proving finally its physical unity. Newton showed that the important and dramatic aspects of nature that were subject to the universal lawof gravitation could be explained, in mathematical terms, with a single physical theory. With him the separation of the natural and supernatural, of sublunar and superlunar worlds disappeared. The same laws of gravitation and motion rule everywhere; for the first time a single mathematical law could explain the motion of objects on earth as well as the phenomena of the heavens. The whole cosmos is composed of inter-connecting parts influencing each other according to these laws. It was this grand conception that produced a general revolution in human thought, equaled perhaps only by that following Darwin’s Origin of Species… [Newton] is generally regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time and the founder of mathematical physics” (PMM 161). With scarce copper-engraved frontispieces and three headpieces by the translator Andrew Motte. Bound without half titles, as usual. Babson 20. Gray 23. Norman 1587. Two leaves with marginal paper repair, one leaf in Volume I (C3) with corner tear with loss affecting a few words, plates and text otherwise exceptionally crisp and fine. A very handsome, complete copy. Featured Items
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