PBA Galleries

[4], [xv]-lviii, [2], 360 pp. [a]3, b-f4, g2, B-Z4, Aa-Zz4. With 22 folding engraved plates. (4to) 28x21.5 cm (11x8½"), period calf with gilt border, rebacked with modern calf, old morocco lettering piece, old marbled endpapers, later flyleaves. Second Thorp edition.

Second edition of Robert Thorp's English translation of Newton's great work, with valuable commentary. This edition appears to be almost as rare as the first Thorp edition of 1777, which was described by I. Bernard Cohen in the introduction to its 1969 reprint as "one of the rarest of the editions of this famous book, hardly ever appearing in bookseller's catalogues or in auction sales... There is no better work than Thorp's available in English." The present edition is a re-issue of the first with a new title and without the Dedication to the Duke of Northumberland and the List of Subscribers. It does include Thorp's long introduction, Newton's three prefaces, Roger Cotes' preface, the poem by Halley, the index (really a table of contents) and errata. Although Thorp announced a two-volume set, only the first one (containing Book I) was ever published. Bookplate of Charles Purton Cooper.