A Treatise of the System of the World and A Panegyric upon Sir Isaac Newton.

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Auction dateClassic
19.10.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 1032749
Lot 97 | A Treatise of the System of the World and A Panegyric upon Sir Isaac Newton.
NEWTON, Isaac (1642-1726/7). A Treatise of the System of the World. Translated into English by Andrew Motte. London: F. Fayram, 1728 [Bound with:] REID, Andrew (fl. 18th century). An Abstract of Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms. London: William Innys, 1732 [And:] FONTENELLE, Bernard le Bovier de (1657-1757). A Panegyric upon Sir Isaac Newton. Translated from the French. London: William and John Innys, 1728.

First edition in English of the "third part" of Newton's Principia, with scarce edition of Fontenelle's eulogy of Newton. Also published in Latin the same year, this work was "originally intended to form the third part of the Principia mathematica. Fearing disputes from those ignorant of the principles outlined in the first two books, Newton later changed his plan, 'putting the substance of the System into prepositions in the mathematical way, that it might be read by those only who had studied the principles beforehand'" (Norman). It reflects Newton's typically ahead-of-his-time outlook, speculating on, among other things, the existence of the planet Uranus (first seen by Herschel in 1781) and the possibility of Terrestrial Tide Effects (which would be discovered by Michaelson in 1919).

The present copy is bound with a translation of Fontenelle's eulogy of Newton, also by Andrew Reid. Fontenelle was an influential figure of the French Enlightenment and disciple of Mersenne. His "panegyric" provides a detailed biography of Newton, coming down in favor of Newton in the Calculus Controversy. It was translated several times, and this is the first edition of this translation by Reid, a Scottish popular science writer. It is not recorded at auction and is rare institutionally. I: Babson 18; Norman 1593; Wallis 30; III: Wallis 390.1.

Three works in one, octavo (194 x 122mm). First work with 2 engraved plates and errata leaf at end; third with 6pp. publisher's ads at end (a few spots). Contemporary English paneled calf, gilt title label on spine (joints cracked and possibly repaired, leather peeling a bit).
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