Newton Isaac

4to (mm 250x200). Pages [28], 484, [8] + 1 engraved folding plate containing the orbis cometae. Red and black title page with engraved vignette; several diagrams and illustration engraved in wood. Occasional slighty spotting, some browning, generally good copy. Nineteenth century binding in quarter vellum with marbled plates and corners. Gilt titles on red leather cartouche at spine. Minimal defects.


4to (mm 250x200). Pages [28], 484, [8]. With folding engraved plate of cometary orbit facing p. 465. Title printed in red and black with engraved vignette and numerous woodcut diagrams and illustrations in text. Minor browning and foxing. Bound in 19th century half vellum, red gilt lettered label on spine. Rare first Amsterdam edition, reprint of the second english edition (Cambridge 1713). Babson, Supplement 4: «The first Amsterdam reprint of the second edition of the Principia is a fine example of bookmaking»; Hall 43, 87. 

Rara prima edizione di Amsterdam, ristampa della seconda edizione inglese edita a Cambridge nel 1713; Cfr. Babson, Supplement 4: «The first Amsterdam reprint of the second edition of the Principia is a fine example of bookmaking»; Hall 43, 87; Jorink-Maas, 27 e passim; McKitterick II, 107 «The new edition, a page for page resetting on paper inferior to that from Cambridge, and with a new set of woodcut figures, appeared in Amsterdam in 1714»; la seconda edizione inglese era stata stampata in un numero così esiguo di copie che un editore tedesco realizzò questa edizione rivale per soddisfare la domanda del mercato; e fu questa edizione pirata olandese ad essere recensita dal Journal des savants nel 1715 e dal Journal de Trévoux nel 1718 (Shank, 122). I Principia Mathematica di Newton, nella prima edizione, sono considerati «the greatest work in the history of science. Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had certainly shown the way; but where they described the phenomena they observed, Newton explained the underlying universal laws. 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 graviation could be explained, in the mathematical terms, within a single physical theory. [...]  [...] The second edition of "Principia" was not published until 1713». «Following the pioneer researches of Galileo in the study of motion, and its Mathematical analysis and the important contributions of Descartes (vedi lotto 442) [...], the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century culminated in the massive achievements of Newton in dynamics and gravitational astronomy»  (cfr. PMM 161); la seconda edizione dei Principia è parimenti importante: Newton stesso apportò le consistenti aggiunte e correzioni, confrontandosi con le nuove scoperte e le nuove teorie formulate dai suoi contemporanei; inoltre questa riedizione dei Principia fu corredata da una prefazione critica di Roger Cotes, suo amico e collaboratore.