Books and Manuscripts

[Newton, Isaac] Maclaurin, Colin
An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, in Four Books
London: Printed for the Author's Children: and Sold by A. Millar, et al., 1748. First edition, large paper copy. 4to, 11 3/16 x 9 1/16 in. (284 x 230 mm). (xxviii), xx, 392 pp.; with half-title. Illustrated with six engraved folding charts. Three-quarter tan calf over marbled paper-covered boards, joints rubbed and dry, small splits in upper and lower of same on front and rear; top edge stained black, other edges trimmed; half-title loose, gutter of same worn and with old tape residue, small loss in bottom edge of same; scattered light dampstaining in bottom corner and gutter; scattered contemporary and later marginalia, in ink and in pencil; small ink stamp on verso of Tab. V. Babson 85; Gray 112; Cohen, Franklin and Newton, 1956.

First edition of "one of the most outstanding popular introductions to Newtonian science of the eighteenth-century" (Cohen, p. 209). Colin MacLaurin (1698-1746) was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. On the recommendation of Sir Isaac Newton he was made a professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh in 1725, and developed and extended Newton's work on calculus, geometry, and gravitation. His Treatise on Fluxions (1742) was the first systematic exposition of Newton's methods.