Description of the Babson Collection

The Collection includes all of the editions, translations, and major commentaries of both of Newton's most important works — the Principia and Opticks — that appeared during his lifetime, as well as those of the succeeding two centuries. There are also editions and translations of Newton's System of the World and Optical Lectures, and his several mathematical publications. Many of these appear in variant issues of the greatest rarity and value.

The Collection also includes the printed editions of Newton's writings on ancient chronology and religious subjects as well as books by other authors interpreting, explaining, defending, and criticizing Newton. The intellectual intensity of the time comes alive in these works, which include titles by nearly every great scientific and mathematical name of the period. Kepler and Descartes; Leibniz, Huygens, and Boyle; Maclaurin, Saunderson, Halley, Keill, Gregory-all make an appearance.

The Collection includes several volumes with annotations by Newton, among which two in particular stand out. A first edition of the Principia contains annotations made both by Newton himself and by Edmund Halley, who was editor and reviewer for the 1687 edition. The annotations include corrections and alterations, many of which appear in the second and third editions of the book. Also of great note is a copy of the second edition of the Opticks (London, 1717), which bears several long annotations in Newton's hand.

The Collection includes several volumes with annotations by Newton, among which two in particular stand out. A first edition of the Principia contains annotations made both by Newton himself and by Edmund Halley, who was editor and reviewer for the 1687 edition. The annotations include corrections and alterations, many of which appear in the second and third editions of the book. Also of great note is a copy of the second edition of the Opticks (London, 1717), which bears several long annotations in Newton's hand.

The Babson Collection contains approximately sixty manuscript items, most of which come from the Portsmouth sale. The Babson manuscripts represent nearly the full range of Newton's activities; they include correspondence, calculations, elaborate alchemical and theological musings, and bookkeeping receipts. About forty are in Newton's hand, often signed, including a beautifully illustrated alchemical text picturing the Philosopher's Stone. Another, the twenty six-page "Praxis," likely written in 1693, during a time of extreme emotional stress, is arguably Newton's most important alchemical manuscript. The most outstanding single item is certainly the eighty-four-page autograph manuscript entitled "A Treatise or Remarks on Solomon's Temple," with six sketches drawn by Newton, showing plans, charts, and architectural details of the Temple. The size of Solomon's Temple was a prominent puzzle in theological inquiry at the turn of the eighteenth century; figures as varied as the scientist Robert Hooke and the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor all had a say in the debate. Newton's commentary describes the altar, the courts, the porticos, and the gates, based on a detailed comparison of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament with that of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, and includesquotations not only in Latin but also in Hebrew and Greek.

Another manuscript of note is a two-page piece written in Newton's hand, headed simply "Lib. Chem," and listing some one-hundred and nineteen chemical and alchemical books in his private library, apparently in a sort of shelf-list order. As one of the few sources to verify books undoubtedly in Newton's library, it has proved especially useful in sorting out some of the provenance mysteries that resulted from the dispersal of Newton's collection.

Correspondence by Newton's contemporaries makes up the majority of the remaining Babson manuscripts. They concern mostly issues raised by Newton's theories, and events bearing on his role as President of the Royal Society. One particularly interesting letter is from Leibniz to Nicolas Bernoulli, dated June 28, 1713. Leibniz' priority dispute with Newton over the calculus was especially charged in the months following the release, in January 1713, of the Commercium Epistolicum, the report of the Royal Society's investigation into the dispute, which concluded in favor of Newton. During this time, Bernoulli duplicitously encouraged Leibniz' outrage, and played the coy innocent to Newton's followers. In this four-page autograph letter, Leibniz presents several reasons justifying his claim to priority and entreats Bernoulli's outspoken help in the dispute.

 The Babson Collection is not restricted to books and manuscripts; it also contains important groups of prints, photographs, maps, medals, and coins. The most distinctive single item is a plaster death mask of Newton, one of only five known. The mask was the model for the sculptor Michael Rysbrack's 1734 bust of Newton, as well as his work on the Westminster Abbey monument. The Babson Collection's version of the mask has a particularly distinguished history; it was almost certainly owned by Thomas Jefferson, who counted Newton among one his greatest heroes.