Lot 15

Maclaurin, Colin
An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries








The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician
Auction: 23 October 2025 from 13:00 GMT
Description
in Four Books. Published from the Author's Manuscript Papers, by Patrick Murdoch. London: printed for the author's children, 1748. 4to (28.4 x 22.2cm), contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, [8] xx [20] 392 pp., half-title, 6 engraved folding plates, loss to spine-label, front joint cracked [Babson 85; ESTC T81914; Wallis 112]
Footnote
First edition, large-paper copy. James Stirling's name is in the list of subscribers, and is asterisked to indicate his subscription to the large-paper issue. 'Though a number of other general expositions of Newton's thought were published during the eighteenth century, Maclaurin's Account has long been recognized as the leading authoritative statement of mainstream Newtonianism' (ODNB).







