Newton, Isaac

4to (240 x 184mm.), title-page in first state, P4 a cancel with diagram on verso correctly oriented, engraved folding plate of cometary orbit, numerous text diagrams, errata leaf, leaf H2 missigned G2, contemporary Dutch vellum, gilt roll-tooled border, gilt floral stamps at four corners, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, edges gilt, light marginal soiling in first few leaves, very light and occasional marginal spotting, binding with some small stains and minor soiling

J[ohann] H[einrich] Ameldung, gift inscription on title, possibly the Jena physician born in 1673; John Wright, manuscript inscription on front free endpaper

Babson 11; Dibner 11; Grolier/Horblit 78; Norman 1586; PMM 161; Waller 12159; Wallis 7; Wing N1048

light marginal soiling in first few leaves, light and occasional marginal spotting. Contemporary Dutch vellum, gilt roll-tooled border, gilt floral stamps at four corners, spine gilt in compartments with gilt-stamped red leather title label, edges gilt; some small stains and soiling
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

First edition, first issue, a beautiful, crisp copy of "the greatest work in the history of science" (PMM). A cornerstone treatise on dynamics and gravitation and "perhaps the greatest intellectual stride that it has ever been granted to any man to make" (Einstein).

Fundamentally, the Principia explains the phenomena described by Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, by elucidating the universal laws underlying them. At the urging of Edmond Halley, secretary to the Royal Society, Newton set about to prove that Kepler's law of planetary motion would cause a planet to orbit elliptically around the sun. Newton established the mathematical basis for the law of inertia and the mechanics of fluids, including the effect of bodies moving through resistant fluids (friction). Further, Newton's law of universal gravitation proved the physical unity of the cosmos: he demonstrated that all of bodies - from dust particles to the moon in its orbit to tidal waves and the blaze of a comet - were subject to the universal law of gravitation, and could be explained, in mathematical terms, within a single physical theory.

"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, equalled perhaps only by that following Darwin's Origin of the Species" (PMM).

The Principia explained a system of the universe that, once established, was unchallenged until the twentieth century ushered in quantum theory and the theories of relativity. The difficulty of its subject matter (Newton himself called it a "hard" book) and the influence of earlier theories somewhat delayed its general acceptance, but it's mathematical explanations of gravity and motion changed man's understaning of the universe. Going beyond even Horblit's assertion of the work as "the most influential of the seventeenth century" Principia essentially marks the beginning of modern physics.

Probably fewer than three hundred copies of the first edition of Principia were printed, under the supervision, and at the expense of, Edmond Halley. Newton and Halley undertook the distribution through various booksellers themselves, with perhaps 50 being given to Samuel Smith for sale on the Continent.  The present copy contains the first issue of the title-page with the two-line imprint and the cancel P4. The variants described by Todd, the priority of which is indeterminate, correspond to those enumerated in the Norman bibliography as pertaining to the Norman copy with the following exceptions: page 209 signature is omitted, page 261 page number is correct, and page 267 signature is KK2.