KEILL, John.

Introductiones ad veram Physicam et veram Astronomiam. Quibus accedunt Trigonometria. De viribus centralibus. De legibus attractionis.

Engraved vignette on title & 47 folding engraved plates. Title printed in red & black. 2 p.l., [1]-636, [10] pp. Large 4to, cont. Dutch vellum over boards, panelled in blind with a blind arabesque in center of each cover. Leiden: J. & H. Verbeek, 1725.

First Latin edition of Keill’s lectures on physics and astronomy delivered at Oxford University; each was first separately published in 1702 (physics) and 1718 (astronomy). The 1702 Introductio ad veram Physicam was “probably the first textbook of Newtonian physics ever to appear.”–Gjertsen, The Newton Handbook, p. 284–(giving the date as 1701).

Keill (1671-1721), a student of David Gregory and Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford from 1712, “was one of the very important disciples gathered around Newton who transmitted his principles of philosophy to the scientific and intellectual community, thereby influencing the directions and emphases of Newtonianism.”–D.S.B., VII, p. 275.

The lectures were general introductions to the principles of physics and astronomy based on Newtonian concepts and contain sketches of the history of the two sciences.

Fine copy. Stamp on title of Mr. Maurice Mauger.

Price: $2,250.00

Item ID: 6015