Newton/Pfautz - Principia Mathematica-Acta Eruditorum - 1688

Newton Isaac/Pfautz Christoph

Principia Mathematica-Acta Eruditorum

Lipsiae - 1688 -
J. Grossium & J.F. Gleditschium

(8), 672, (8)p.
In 4o - 22 X 17 cm. -

FUNDAMENTAL FIRST EDITION OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTEMPORARY REVIEW OF NEWTON'S “PRINCIPIA.”

According to Gjertsen (Newton Handbook 1986, p. 472) the other three contemporary reviews were lacking scientific merit, and the review of the present text (pp. 303/315) was by far the most detailed and influential.

Contains XIII copper plates, of which 4 full-page, 3 folded and 6 more folded, in addition to the first publication of a famous and thorough analysis of Isaac Newton's “Principia” of 1687, the work that laid the foundations of modern physics.

It was precisely this analysis, the most detailed among those published by 1688, that enabled European scholars to access a substantially complete description of the work, in the form of almost analytical summary. The analysis is today attributed to Christoph Pfautz, a mathematician and professor in Leipzig, who clearly grasped the mathematical scope of Newton's approach.

The text enjoyed great contemporary resonance and is cited by Leibniz in 1689.
The volume also includes contributions by Denis Papin, Gottfried Kirch, and Jakob Bernoulli, making it an important testimony of late 17th-century European science.

Leibniz, in sharp dispute with Newton, who almost preferred to hide his mathematical methods, did his utmost to disseminate them. In 1682 he helped found a scientific journal, the “Acta Eruditorum,” which, according to his intentions, was to become a vehicle for the diffusion and exchange of knowledge among scholars of European countries.
In the Acta, from the 1684 issue onward, Leibniz began publishing the rules and applications of his differential and integral calculus, developed during a Parisian sojourn from 1672 to 1676.

The foundation of the “Acta,” in 1682 indeed, curated by Christoph Pfautz and Otto Mencke, was effectively considered the first German scientific journal.
Such a journal played a fundamental role in shaping the narrative of the ascent of the new science in the 17th century, positioning Germany as the ideal intermediary between tradition and innovation.

In particular the review of Newton's Principia, published by Pfautz in the “Acta,” began the Leibniz–Newton controversy.

Good contemporary binding in full rigid parchment with corner guards and red leather laces passing on the spine, bearing a gold-titled frame with place and date of printing.

Interior well preserved, despite constant browning and foxing, more or less pronounced, even on the 13 illustrated plates, but never disturbing and with the engraving regularly readable.
Only plates 3 and 4 (folded multiple times) show restorations and backing on the fold lines, due mainly to the paper’s low thickness, defects nonetheless detectable in the very rare copies complete, like the present exemplar, of the 13 plates.
Caution is advised when opening the folded plates, applying only light pressure at the opening folds to avoid unwanted tears.
Original endpapers preserved.

Fundamental text, of extreme importance, complete and original in every part.
BOUND. COMPLETE.