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Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica. Edited by Edmond Halley (1656-1743). London: Joseph Streater for the Royal Society [at the expense of Edmond Halley], to be sold by various booksellers, 1687.
細節
NEWTON, Sir Isaac (1642-1727)
Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica. Edited by Edmond Halley (1656-1743). London: Joseph Streater for the Royal Society [at the expense of Edmond Halley], to be sold by various booksellers, 1687.
First edition of ‘the greatest work in the history of science’ (PMM). The Principia elucidates the principle of universal gravitation and lays the foundations of classical mechanics, expressed by Newton in his three laws of motion. Building upon the work of Galileo, Kepler and Copernicus, Newton applies mathematical principles to explain the phenomenologically revealed world: Book one treats the movement of bodies without resistance; Book two, the movement of bodies in a resisting medium; and Book Three is concerned particularly with the consequences of gravitational attraction in astronomy. ‘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, equaled perhaps only by that following Darwin's Origin of Species’ (PMM). Principia marked the culmination of the Scientific Revolution and the order Newton proposed for the universe remained unchallenged for over two centuries, until the development of Einstein's theory of relativity and Planck's quantum theory. Newtonian physics is still used extensively today, especially in engineering applications; his principles and methods provide an accurate and useful framework for the solution of many scientific problems.
The publication of the Principia owed much to Edmond Halley, who used frequently to boast that he had been ‘the Ulysses who produced this Achilles’. Following a discussion on orbital dynamics between Newton and Halley in 1684, the former was inspired to produce the nine-page tract De motu (Concerning motion), in which he sketched an idea virtually identical to that which appears in the Principia. Halley asked Newton to write more for the Royal Society to publish and for the following two and a half years Newton devoted himself solely to this project: closeted away from society, he pursued a problem which kept expanding in every direction and revealing new facets. Halley received the complete manuscript for the book in April 1687 and he himself saw the work through the press, even bearing the cost of printing, since the Royal Society’s funds had been depleted.
Babson 10; Dibner 11; Grolier/Horblit 78 (‘the most influential scientific publication of the seventeenth century’); PMM 161; W. Todd's bibliography in Koyré & Cohen's ed. of Newton's Principia II, 851-3; Norman 1586; PMM 161; Wallis 6; Wing N-1048.
Quarto (232 x 174mm). Numerous woodcut diagrams (a total of 16 leaves [comprising quire A, leaves E3, K4, M3, P4, 2F2-3, 2K3, quire 3F, and the errata leaf 3O4] plus the folding engraving of cometary orbit lacking and supplied in printed facsimile, without final blank as usual, occasional light spotting, a few quires evenly browned, some minor marginal worming just touching a few letters, the margins of 2X4-2Y3 with associated rice-paper repairs, margins of 2Z2 and 3N3-3O4 with minor repairs, small repaired tear into text with minor loss to ***2). Later vellum over pasteboard, lettered in manuscript on spine (resewn and recased, lightly rubbed and soiled, endpapers renewed).
Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica. Edited by Edmond Halley (1656-1743). London: Joseph Streater for the Royal Society [at the expense of Edmond Halley], to be sold by various booksellers, 1687.
First edition of ‘the greatest work in the history of science’ (PMM). The Principia elucidates the principle of universal gravitation and lays the foundations of classical mechanics, expressed by Newton in his three laws of motion. Building upon the work of Galileo, Kepler and Copernicus, Newton applies mathematical principles to explain the phenomenologically revealed world: Book one treats the movement of bodies without resistance; Book two, the movement of bodies in a resisting medium; and Book Three is concerned particularly with the consequences of gravitational attraction in astronomy. ‘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, equaled perhaps only by that following Darwin's Origin of Species’ (PMM). Principia marked the culmination of the Scientific Revolution and the order Newton proposed for the universe remained unchallenged for over two centuries, until the development of Einstein's theory of relativity and Planck's quantum theory. Newtonian physics is still used extensively today, especially in engineering applications; his principles and methods provide an accurate and useful framework for the solution of many scientific problems.
The publication of the Principia owed much to Edmond Halley, who used frequently to boast that he had been ‘the Ulysses who produced this Achilles’. Following a discussion on orbital dynamics between Newton and Halley in 1684, the former was inspired to produce the nine-page tract De motu (Concerning motion), in which he sketched an idea virtually identical to that which appears in the Principia. Halley asked Newton to write more for the Royal Society to publish and for the following two and a half years Newton devoted himself solely to this project: closeted away from society, he pursued a problem which kept expanding in every direction and revealing new facets. Halley received the complete manuscript for the book in April 1687 and he himself saw the work through the press, even bearing the cost of printing, since the Royal Society’s funds had been depleted.
Babson 10; Dibner 11; Grolier/Horblit 78 (‘the most influential scientific publication of the seventeenth century’); PMM 161; W. Todd's bibliography in Koyré & Cohen's ed. of Newton's Principia II, 851-3; Norman 1586; PMM 161; Wallis 6; Wing N-1048.
Quarto (232 x 174mm). Numerous woodcut diagrams (a total of 16 leaves [comprising quire A, leaves E3, K4, M3, P4, 2F2-3, 2K3, quire 3F, and the errata leaf 3O4] plus the folding engraving of cometary orbit lacking and supplied in printed facsimile, without final blank as usual, occasional light spotting, a few quires evenly browned, some minor marginal worming just touching a few letters, the margins of 2X4-2Y3 with associated rice-paper repairs, margins of 2Z2 and 3N3-3O4 with minor repairs, small repaired tear into text with minor loss to ***2). Later vellum over pasteboard, lettered in manuscript on spine (resewn and recased, lightly rubbed and soiled, endpapers renewed).
榮譽呈獻
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts