Early Biographies of Isaac Newton, 1660–1885
Editors: Rob Iliffe, Milo Keynes and Rebekah Higgitt
978 1 85196 778 0: 234x156mm: £195.00/$350.00
The life of Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), arguably the most towering figure of British science, has attracted the interest of contemporaries and successive generations alike. His works inspired many to write his biography, and a body of biographical material emerged over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Not all of these writings have been published, however, and those that went into print are not widely available.
This new reset edition from Pickering & Chatto is the first thoroughly edited collection of the biographical accounts of Newton and demonstrates the way in which his reputation developed in the centuries after his death. The first volume contains manuscripts from the early eighteenth century, appearing here in print for the very first time. Also included in Volume 1 is a range of private letters, poetry and memoranda illuminating the reception of the scientist in the eighteenth century. Volume 2 continues the story with nineteenth century texts echoing the debate over Newton ’s reputation, his scientific work and personal life.
The publication of these disparate and fascinating sources will make the early critical heritage of Newton available to a wide variety of scholars. It will attract the interest of scholars of the history of science as well as literary and cultural historians. General history and history of science students will find this collection an invaluable resource. Moreover, revealing the many facets of Newton ’s life and times, the attention of a wider public will be assured.
Contents
Volume 1
Eighteenth Century Biography of Isaac Newton; the unpublished manuscripts and early texts
- Short-writing (1662); expenses (1661–8)
- Flamsteed autobiog./ history of observatory etc.
- Flamsteed suppressed preface of Historia Coelestis (from 1717)
-
Conduitt material (I)
(a) Mason to Conduitt (JC), (Keynes Ms. 134), (23 March
1726/7)
(b) JC to Fontenelle and Horace Walpole, (K. Ms.
129D), (27 March 1727)
(c) John Craig to JC, (K. Ms. 132), (7 April 1727)
(d) Fontenelle to JC, (K. Ms. 129E), (14 April 1727)
(e) Stukeley to JC, (K. Ms. 136(2)), (26 June 1727)
(f) Stukeley to Richard Mead, (K. Ms. 136(3)), (26 June
1727)
(g) Mead to JC, (K. Ms. 136(4)), (7 July 1727)
(h) Stukeley to JC, (K. Ms. 136(5))
(i) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129F), (c.21 July 21 1727)
(j) Stukeley to JC, (K. Ms. 136(8)), (22 July 1727)
(k) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129G), (31 July 1727)
(l) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129B), (October 1727)
(m) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129A), (October 1727)
(n) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129H), (date unclear)
(o) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129C), (October 1727) - Fontenelle's Eloge (English trans. 1728)
-
Conduitt material (II)
(a) Fontenelle to JC, (K. Ms. 129I), ( 15 November 1727 )
(b) JC to Fontenelle, (K. Ms. 129J), ( 23 November 1727 )
(d) Nicholas Wickins to JC, (K. Ms. 137), (16 January
1727/8)
(e) Stukeley to JC, (K. Ms. 136(1)), (16. January 1727/8)
(f) Humphrey Newton to JC, (K. Ms. 135), (17. January to
14 Feb. 1727 /8)
(g) Conduitt circular letter, (K. Ms. 131(1)), (6 February
1727/8)
(h) Stukeley to JC, (K. Ms. 136(6)), (16 February 1727/8)
(i) Stukeley to JC, (K. Ms. 136(7)), (29 February 1727/8) - The de Moivre memorandum
- Pemberton’s View of Newton’s Philosophy (1728)
- Whiston’s view of Newton from his Collection of Authentick Records (1728)
-
Conduitt material (III)
(a) Conduitt’s ‘Life’ of Newton in various drafts, (K.
Ms.130.1–130.16)
(b) Conduitt to McSwinney, (K. Ms. 131(2)), (4 June 1729)
(c) McSwinney to Conduitt, (K. Ms. 131 (3), (27 September
1730)
(d) de Vibain to JC, (K. Ms. 131(4)), (1730)
(e) William Derham to JC, (K. Ms. 133), (18 July 1733) - Conti account of 1715 interview with Newton
- Stukeley ‘Memoirs’ (Grantham Museum Ms. A)
- Stukeley ‘1752 Memoirs’ (RS Ms. 142 with Grantham Museum Ms. B variants)
Volume 2
Nineteenth Century Biography of Isaac Newton; public debate and private controversy
Translation of J B Biot’s ‘Notice historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de Newton’, Biographie Universelle (1822) by H C Elphinstone in A Life of Sir Isaac Newton (1829); T Galloway, ‘French and English biographies of Newton’, Foreign Quarterly Review (1833); T Galloway, ‘Life and observations of Flamsteed – Newton, Halley, and Flamsteed’, Edinburgh Review (1836); W Whewell, Newton and Flamsteed. Remarks on an Article in No. CIX of the Quarterly Review (1836); S P Rigaud, MS of draft essay, ‘Mrs Catharine Barton’ (1836); D Brewster, ‘Newton, Sir Isaac’, Encyclopaedia Britannica (1842); A De Morgan, MS of draft letter to Brewster regarding Newton and the fluxions controversy (1842); A De Morgan, ‘Isaac Newton’, The Cabinet Portrait Gallery of British Worthies (1846); A De Morgan, ‘Sir David Brewster’s “Life of Newton”,’ North British Review (1855); Anon., ‘Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’, Times (1855); B Powell, ‘Sir Isaac Newton’, Edinburgh Review (1856); Excerpts from A De Morgan, Newton: His Friend and his Niece (1885)
Reviews
'One can only welcome [this] publication... The level of scholarship, textual editing, and detailed analysis is very high... [and] the introductions to the two volumes are useful - even essential.'
– Margaret J Osler, Notes and Records
'...a mine of information...'
– Massimo Mazzotti, The British Journal of the History of Science
'The main advantage of Rob Iliffe and Rebekah Higgitt’s Early Biographies of Isaac Newton 1660–1885, is that this two-volume set collects and reprints many of the rarer sources that have formed the ultimate basis of almost all subsequent biographical treatments of Newton, both good and bad.
– William Newman, Ambix