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a tall, BroaD-MargineD coPY oF an iMPortant earlY eXPosition oF neWtonian science, Written With the suPPort anD assistance oF its suBJect, FroM the liBrarY oF the scientist John h. glaDstone, Frs
232. PemBerton, Henry. a View of sir isaac newton’s Philosophy. London: ‘printed by S. Palmer’, 1728. £1,750
4to (285 x 220mm). contemporary english full calf gilt, boards with borders of double gilt fillets, enclosing triple blind floral rolls, board-edges tooled with blind floral rolls, spine gilt in compartments, later gilt red morocco lettering-piece in one, others decorated in gilt with acorn and leafy- spray tools, red-speckled edges; pp. [34 (title, verso blank, dedication, preface, ‘a Poem on sir isaac newton’, contents, errata)], 407, [1 (blank)], [16 (list of subscribers)]; engraved title-vignette by J. Pine after J. grison, engraved headpiece of Walpole arms by and after Pine on dedication, 5 engraved headpieces and 5 engraved tailpieces by Pine after grison, and 6 engraved initials by and after Pine, and 12 engraved folding plates; a little rubbed and scuffed, skilfully rebacked [by trevor lloyd], retaining original spine, occasional light spotting or marking, nonetheless a very crisp and fresh copy with broad margins; provenance: traces of early ownership signature on front free endpaper (most of signature neatly torn away causing small loss) — John Hall Gladstone, Frs (1827-1902, engraved armorial bookplate on upper pastedown).
First edition. henry Pemberton (1694-1771) — ‘a man of deep friendships and broad learning [...who] was known as a lover of music who never missed a performance of a handel oratorio’ (DsB) — studied medicine at leiden under Boerhaave, where he encountered newton’s works, and also at Paris and st thomas’ hospital, london, before returning to complete his degree at leiden. having graduated MD and become a Fellow of the royal society, Pemberton was ‘determined to join the circle of newton’s epigones’ (loc. cit.), and he eventually met his hero through the offices of the celebrated physician richard Mead, who showed newton a paper by the young doctor which refuted a proposition by leibniz. newton and Pemberton became acquainted with each other, and Pemberton was appointed the editor of the third edition of the Principia, when work began on it in 1723: he ‘devoted the major portion of his attention to the edition in the following two and a half years. he was a concientious editor who carefully attended to details of style and consistency, but nothing more substantive in the edition bears his stamp’ (loc. cit.). his next project was the present work, which was undertaken with the benediction and assistance of newton — as Pemberton records, ‘he also approved of the following treatise, a great part of which we read together’ (a2r) — and completed shortly after his death (although newton remains listed as a subscriber to twelve copies). Babson comments that, ‘this study of newton’s philosophy is interesting as being the account of a close friend. the preface contains the author’s recollections of newton, especially in his old age. there is also a poem on sir isaac by richard glover (poet and M.P., 1712-1785) written in his 16th year; the author’s introduction on newton’s method of reasoning in philosophy; and a long list of subscribers’ (the list of subscribers is bound at the end of the volume in this copy). Dublin editions of A View of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy followed in 1728 and again in 1758, and it was translated into italian as Saggio della filosofia del signor cav. Isacco Newton (Venice: 1745), French as Élémens de la philosophie newtonienne (amsterdam and leipzig: 1755), and (partially) into german as Anfangsgründe der Newtonischen Philosophie ... Erster Theil (Berlin: 1793). however, apart from this edition, no other english edition was published in england until the late 20th century. Wallis distinguishes two issues of this first english edition: the first (as here) gives only the printer’s name on the title and quire 2c has the following catchwords: ‘upon’, ‘But’, ‘in’, ‘of’, ‘be’, ‘circuit’, ‘the’, and ‘recede’; the second lists the names of twelve publishers and has a different set of catchwords in 2c. the edition is particularly notable for its fine illustration and elegant typography: it is the first known use of Caslon’s Great Primer roman, and the finely-engraved head- and tailpieces and initials are by John Pine (1690- 1756), one of the most highly-regarded english engravers of the period, whose edition of horace is a landmark of eighteenth-century english book-illustration (he is also believed to have been the brother- in-law of samuel Palmer, the printer of this work).
this copy was previously in the library of the physical chemist John h. gladstone, who was educated at university college, london and the university of giessen, where he studied under liebig and graduated PhD. a founder of the discipline of physical chemistry, a pioneer of spectroscopy, and an active researcher in other branches of science, gladstone was a lecturer on chemistry at st thomas’s hospital, succeeded Michael Faraday as Fullerian professor of chemistry at the royal institution in 1874 (but resigned in 1877; gladstone was both friend and biographer of Faraday), was elected a Fellow of the royal society in 1853 (receiving its Davy medal in 1879), and was a founder member of the Physical society and served as its president (1874) and as president of the chemical society (1877-1879).
Babson 98; ESTC T53471; Gray 132; Lowndes p. 1673; Wallis 132.
233. PetrarCH. the sonnets of Petrarch. Printed for the Limited Editions Club at the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona. 1965.
£148
4to., original morocco backed paper covered boards with dust wrapper and slipcase. With illustrations by aldo salvadori.
First edition thus, limited to 1500 numbered copies signed by the printer giovanni Mardersteig and the artist aldo salvadori.
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