iv, ix-xxiv, 144, [143]-339 pp. + errata leaf with advertisement on verso. Copper-engraved plate inserted between pp. 272 and 273; woodcut diagrams throughout. (4to) 29.8x23.5 cm. (11¾x9½"), later cloth, rebacked with modern cloth. First Edition, large paper copy.
Very rare large paper copy in untrimmed state of Sir Isaac Newton's Methodus Fluxionum, which was originally prepared in 1671, but remained unpublished until this English translation by John Colson. The measurements of this copy exceed those of the Norman copy and other cited copies - the only other mention of large paper copies seems to have been the Stanitz copy, sold at Sotheby's in 1984, and a copy sold at PBA Galleries in 2009 - the present copy, in rare untrimmed state, is 1.43 cm. taller and 1.2 cm. wider than the copy sold at PBA. Newton presents a method of determining the magnitudes of finite quantities by the velocities of their generating motions. At the time of its preparation, it was Newton's most complete exposition of the fundamental problem of the calculus, in which he presented his successful general method. Newton prepared this treatise just before his death and entrusted the Latin manuscript to Henry Pemberton, who never published it. In the preface, Colson writes "I thought it highly injurious to the memory and reputation of our own nation, that so curious and useful a piece should be any longer suppressed." The engraved plate demonstrates the concept of fluxions in the shooting of two birds at once; it is frequently bound as the frontispiece, but originally conceived as an illustration for pages 273-4, and so indicated on the plate. The original text was not published in Latin until 1779. In the present copy, there are several dozen neat ink corrections to the text and in the margins, reflecting the errata leaf; also, 2 marginal pencil notes, 8 lines and 12 lines, in a different hand. The errata leaf is usually found following p.140. Babson 171; Norman 1595; Wallis 232.