Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica

In-4 de (28), 484, (8) pp. Title printed in red and black and with engraved vignette, engraved folding plate of the cometary orbit facing p. 465 ; woodcut text diagrams throughout.
Vélin ivoire, dos lisse orné d’un décor doré à la grotesque, tranches jaspées, rousseurs éparses. Reliure de l’époque.

245 x 198 mm.

Newton, Isaac (1643-1727). Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Amstelodami (Amsterdam) Sumptibus Societatis, 1714.

First Amsterdam reprint of the substantive second edition and « a fine example of bookmaking » (Macomber-Babson).

Isaac Newton’s (1643-1727) “Principia Mathematica” is considered “the greatest work in the history of science. The “Principia” provided the great synthesis of the cosmos, proving finally its physical unity. Newton showed that the important and dramatic aspects of nature that were subject to the universal law of gravitation could be explained, in mathematical terms, within a single physical theory. [… ] The same laws of gravitation and motion ruled everywhere ; [… ]
It was this grand conception that produced a general revolution in human thought, equaled perhaps only by that following Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” [… ] The second edition of “Principia” was not published until 1713” (“Printing and the Mind of Man” # 161).

The second edition of Principia, here presented in a rare first Amsterdam reprint from 1714, was revised by Isaac Newton himself to improve its arguments. This was necessary partly because more than 20 years had passed since the first edition was published and new research had appeared, new comets had been found.
Newton made constant revisions to the Principia which, during the long interim until the second edition, circulated only in manuscript. First published in Cambridge in the previous year, the second edition is the first to include the Scholium generale, and shows considerable additions, in particular to the chapters on lunar theory and the theory of comets. The German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) had published theories that were close to Newton’s own, which forced him to sharpen his arguments and therefore this edition was also provided with a long anti-Leibnizian preface by Newton’s editor Roger Cotes.

“Newton’s masterwork was worked up and put into its final form in an incredibly short time. His strategy was to develop the subject of general dynamics from a mathematical point of view in book I, then to apply his most important results to solving astronomical and physical problems in book III. Book II, [… ] is almost independent, and appears extraneous. [… ]

One of the most important consequences of Newton’s analysis is that it must be one and the same law of force that operates in the centrally directed acceleration of the planetary bodies (toward the sun) and of satellites (toward planets), and that controls the linear downward acceleration of freely falling bodies. This force of universal gravitation is also shown to be the cause of the tides, through the action of the sun and the moon on the seas”. (DSB).

Faibles rousseurs éparses habituelles à cette édition mais fort bel exemplaire grand grand de marges conservé dans son très élégant vélin ivoire de L’époque au dos orné d’un décor doré à la grotesque.