PBA Galleries

[34], 530, [6] + [2] ad pp. Copper-engraved frontispiece portrait by George Vertue after I. Vanderbank; diagrams within. (4to) 28.8x21.8 cm (11¼x8½"), period calf ruled in gilt, raised spine bands, morocco lettering piece, marbled endpapers. Third Edition. "Larger" Paper Copy.

Rare large paper issue, printed on heavy paper, of the last edition of the Principia issued in Newton's lifetime with his revisions. There were three issues of the third edition, noted by Andrade as "the ordinary ... 24 x 18.5 cm; a large-paper edition 28.0 x 21.6 cm measured on my copy; and a magnificent largest-paper, printed for presentation, of page-size 32.6 x 23.4 cm" The number of copies produced of this "middle format" is estimated at between 50 and 200 copies, though the former figure may be more likely. Includes Newton's prefaces dated 1686, 1713, and 1725-26, and Roger Cotes' preface dated 1713. Robert Cotes' preface praises Newton's theory of attraction compared to the Cartesian conception. Newton's Principia mathematica is described in Printing and the Mind "the greatest work in the history of science." Covers Newton's famous three laws of motion as well as his treatises on fluid motion and celestial mechanics under the principle of gravitation. Pencil notation on verso of front free endpaper notes "From the Earl of Warwick library."