A first-hand encounter with Newton's masterwork

Swem Library recently took some of its scientific treasures on the road! A number of its rare scientific texts, including a 1687 copy of Isaac Newton’s masterwork Principia, were on display for a one-day exhibit in the Physics Library of Small Hall earlier this month, attracting nearly 300 students and faculty members.

Joshua Erlich, associate professor of physics, and Ute Schechter, Warren E. Burger Archivist in Swem’s Special Collections Research Center, coordinated the exhibit as a treat for the university’s students and faculty. Other interesting scientific volumes on display included Galileo’s Dialogo from 1710, a 1664 work of Robert Boyle, and a 1537 copy of John Holywood’s Sphera Volgare Novamente Tradotta.

Even with all these great works on display, the Principia was defintiely the star attraction.

“To actually see the Principia up close and personal, that is a special opportunity for students and faculty alike. This is the first glimpse that the world had of many of Newton's insights,” said Erlich.

The William & Mary Principia, an 1869 gift of the Rev. Thomas S. Savage to the College, is remarkable for two reasons. It’s a first edition, one of fewer than 200 known copies in the world, and it has annotations written in the margins, an aspect that makes it absolutely unique.

As was the practice with scientific books of the era, the Principia was printed in Latin, a language common to educated people throughout Europe. The annotations are in Latin as well. The identity of the annotator remains a mystery. The annotator was some learned person, educated enough to both make notes in Latin and to deal with Newton’s content in a way that was obviously decisive.

"Many people have remarked that they seem to be editorial comments, not just somebody’s notes as they were reading it and trying to understand it,” Schechter said. It’s not Newton’s hand, though, she added.

This is the fourth year that Swem has hosted the exhibit of the Principia and other scientific works.