Important contemporary review of Newton's Principia

Lot 164
28.01.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1360880
Lot 164 | Important contemporary review of Newton's Principia
Estimate value
$ 1 200 – 1 800
NEWTON, Sir Isaac (1643-1727) - [PFAUTZ, Christoph (1645-1711)]. "Isaaci Newton, matheseos professoris Cantabrigiensis, & Regiae Societatis Anglicana Socii, Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Londini, jusse Soc. Regiae, 1687," in: Acta Eruditorum. Leipzig: Johann Gross and Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, June 1688.

An attractive copy of the first edition of the most important contemporary review of Newton’s Principia. According to Gjertsen (Newton Handbook, 1986, p. 472), the other three contemporary reviews were without scientific merit and this one was by far the most detailed and influential. It was likely authored by the mathematician Christoph Pfautz and it made Newtonian thinking accessible to a wide audience across Europe. This volume also contains articles by Denis Papin, Jakob Bernoulli, and Gottfried Kirch.

Quarto (211 x 167mm). Pp. 303-315. 13 engraved plates in whole volume (occasional spotting). Vellum, red sprinkled edges. Provenance: Georgio Bergonci (1646-1709; engraved bookplate "Georgius P.V. Bergonci Ex Testament" pasted to reverse of general title) – Archive of the Kaiserlich-Königliches Militär-Geographisches Institut (library bookplate to front pastedown and stamp to endpaper) – Austrian National Library with release stamp – illegible stamp on title (in part: "Deposito della guerra").
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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