[NEWTON] RARE PRESENTATION COPY OF NEWTON'S PRINCIPIA. NEWTON, ISAAC. 1642-1727. Philosophiae na...

[NEWTON] RARE PRESENTATION COPY OF NEWTON'S PRINCIPIA. NEWTON, ISAAC. 1642-1727. Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica. London: William and John Innys, 1726. 4to (321 x 221 mm). Title in red and black, engraved frontis portrait after Vanderbank, in-text woodcut diagrams. Contemporary calf gilt, expertly rebacked conserving original spine, crack to text block at O quire, affecting spine panel; some minor marginal foxing. Provenance: Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke (1656-1733; shelfmark on front pastedown and later pencil note); by descent; sold to William H. Robinson, Ltd (catalogue 82, no. 345); Francisco J.M. Duarte (ownership signature on half-title); his sale, Swann, April 28, 1977, lot 316. '... perhaps the greatest intellectual stride that it has ever been granted to any man to make ...' -Albert Einstein EXCEEDINGLY RARE—ONLY 50 COPIES PRINTED IN THIS GRAND PRESENTATION FORMAT, THIS ONE FOR PRESENTATION TO THE EARL OF PEMBROKE, PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY (1689-90), the final edition during Newton's lifetime and the basis for all future editions. Newton's Principia is both the most famous and 'greatest work in the history of science.' By explaining the universal laws underlying physical phenomena '... the Principia provided the greatest synthesis of the cosmos, proving finally its physical unity ... 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 ... It was this grand conception that produced a general revolution in human thought....' (PMM 161). With his Principia Newton unified Galileo's terrestrial physics with Kepler's celestial mechanics and provided the foundation for modern scientific inquiry through Maxwell and Einstein. This final lifetime edition of the Principia is Newton's statement for the ages (he died less than a year after it was published.) Nearing the end of his life, according to Richard Westfall, Newton 'gave one last effort to the Principia. It is clear that he regarded the Principia rather than the Opticks as his masterwork ... He worked over the Principia without end to hone its language to a perfect expression of his ideas' (Westfall, The Life of Isaac Newton, p 298). This contemporary review in the Acta Eruditorum sings its praises: 'This edition carries off the prize from the former ones, not only because of the splendour of the type and of the figures, but also because, besides the new additions, both the text and the figures have undergone revision throughout. Furthermore, there is prefixed to the edition an elegant portrait of the grand old man himself.' The beauty of the typography and the quality and grandeur of superfine paper make these presentation copies on largest and thickest paper one of the most elegantly printed works in all of science. This 1726 edition was issued in three formats: on regular, mid-sized ('large'), or largest and thickest paper. From a total edition of 1250 copies, there were just 50 largest-sized copies printed for presentation by the author. Earlier estimates of the number of largest paper copies had been 12 or 20 copies until the discovery of the publisher Bowyer's paper stock ledger of 1726. There has been considerable confusion between mid-sized and largest paper copies over the years—undoubtedly due to the latter's rarity in commerce. The largest paper copies are thought to have been printed exclusively for Newton himself, intended for use as presentation copies—the catalogue of the Babson Newton collection, in agreement with Gray's Bibliography of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton, calls these copies 'largest paper presentation copy.' In his 1953 census of extant copies of the 1726 presentation edition, Henry Macomber traces 34 copies, including just 7 in private hands. Macomber, in describing this copy (number 14), notes that it seems most likely 'Newton presented this copy to Thomas Herbert, eighth Earl of Pembroke (1656-1733), who was president of the Royal Society, 1689-90' (Macomber, Census, 14). Thomas Herbert, the 8th Earl of Pembroke, served as President of the Royal Society just after the Society published Newton's Principia, and just as Newton was becoming an international superstar. A statesman who served in positions of distinction under two monarchs, he was also intricately involved in the scientific enquiry of the time. A friend to Lock and Swift, he was the dedicatee of Locke's Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, and his is one of 14 busts of 'men of eminent learning' adorning the Long Room at Trinity College, alongside Aristotle, Homer, Boyle, Locke and Newton himself. Nearly all copies of this deluxe presentation issue of 'the greatest work in the history of science' are held in institutions; there are no known presentation copies of any of Newton's works inscribed by the great scientist himself. The Pembroke copy of the Principia—in its most influential edition and the last of Newton's lifetime, finely printed on largest and best paper and presented to the Earl of Pembroke, an important association—represents a true Newton rarity. See Macomber, Henry, 'Census of the Owners of Copies of the 1726 Presentation Issue of Newton's Principia,' PBSA 47-3, 1953, pp 269-300 (with Census of 1726 Presentation Copies, pp 292-300). For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing