ITEM DETAILS

London: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, Paternoster-Row; and Davis and Dickson, St. Martin's Le Grand 1819. Full-Leather. First Printing. The first edition of the first English translation of Newton's Principia was translated by Andrew Motte, and published in 1729 in 2 volumes. The second English edition was not published until 1803, and was issued in 3 volumes, having been updated and corrected by William Davis. Babson (21) notes that this edition includes for the first time the English translation of De Mundi Systemate, which Newton originally intended to be the third book of the Principia. The 1729 English translation by Motte does not include this part, making the 1803 edition the first complete English translation as intended by Newton. The next English edition was published in 1819, of which this is an example. The collation is the same, except that Vol I's Dedication, text, and index have been reset, and the erratum on the last page is omitted. Vol II is the same. Vol III has Figures 1, 2, and 3 inserted at the end. (see the Babson Collection, #s 20-22). The first American edition didn't appear until much later in 1846. All of the early English translations are scarce and desirable. This 3 volume set has been recently rebound with new endpapers in a dark brown calf with black labels, gold gilt lettering and spine tooling. There are some ex-library faults internally - stamped title page (as well as perforated stamp), occasional perforated stamps in the text, pencil notations, minor tears, previous library bookplates, etc. Volume 1's frontispiece (a portrait of Newton) is an Expertly Reproduced Facsimile. The set is otherwise complete and original. Vol. 1 - lx, 211pp, [1] 4 index. Vol. 2 - Title [1] 321pp, 11 index, Vol. 3 - vi, 231pp, 1 advertising. Babson 22. Near Fine.

[Book #15765]