RARE 1726 THIRD EDITION OF NEWTON'S PRINCIPIA, THE LAST EDITION PUBLISHED IN HIS LIFETIME, EDITED BY NEWTON HIMSELF, THE BASIS FOR ALL SUBSEQUENT EDITIONS. ONE OF ONLY 1250 COPIES PRINTED. AT 300, FAR FEWER REMAIN!

(London: Guil. & Joh. Innys, Regiae Societatis typographos, 1726. Quarto 240 x 192 mm).

Lauded by Albert Einstein as "perhaps the greatest intellectual stride that has ever been granted to any man to make," Newton’s Principia is arguably the most influential book in history. Grounded on the premise that virtually everything in the universe is amenable to scientific understanding, this transformative milestone, abounding with interdisciplinary impact, “is generally described as 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 greatest 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 gravitation could be explained, in mathematical terms, with a single physical theory. With him the separation of the natural and supernatural, of sublunar and superlunar worlds disappeared. The same laws of gravitation and motion rule everywhere; for the first time a single mathematical law could explain the motion of objects on earth as well as the phenomena of the heavens. The whole cosmos is composed of inter-connecting parts influencing each other according to these laws. It was this grand conception that produced a general revolution in human thought, equaled perhaps only by that following Darwin’s Origin of Species… [Newton] is generally regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time and the founder of mathematical physics. It was the final, irrevocable break with a medieval conception based on Greek and Roman cosmology and a scholastic system derived from the medieval interpretation of Aristotle... Newton's universe, almost independent of the spiritual order, ushered in the age of rationalism, scientific determinism and the acceptance of a mechanistic view of nature" (PMM 161).

Dissatisfied with the first two editions of his own masterpiece (London, 1687; Amsterdam, 1723), Newton, towards the end of his life, "gave one last effort to the Principia. It is clear that he regarded the Principia rather than the Opticks as his masterwork... He worked over the Principia without end to hone its language to a perfect expression of his ideas… . Perhaps a serious illness in 1722 reminded him that he could not delay forever. We know only that the printing of an edition more sumptuous than either of the others began in the fall of 1723." (Westfall, The Life of Isaac Newton).

With portrait engraving by Vertue (bound before first text leaf) and numerous illustrations in text. Complete with the privilege leaf, half-title, dedication leaf, index, and ad leaf.. 240 x 192 mm. 18th-century paneled calf, gilt-lettered spine, rebacked, hinges cracked but holding. Frontispiece caption trimmed with some loss to artists' signatures, minor foxing and toning but a very good, crisp copy. Engraved armorial bookplate of the Earl of Hopetoun. Third edition, revised and expanded, edited by Henry Pemberton, M.D., F.R.S., contains a new preface by Newton and many alterations and clarifications, the scholium on fluxions chief among them.

Sir Isaac Newton died on March 31, 1727, at the age of 84, one year after his treasured edition was published. This Third Edition of his Principia is the final, definitive statement of the man who invented calculus, determined the composition of light, and discovered the laws of gravity and motion which govern the universe, the founder of modern science, Sir Isaac Newton. Book #vBC4008. $20,000.