Abstract
ANDREW MOTTE'S translation of the “Principia” is not so well known as it deserves to be. It was supplied to his brother, the publisher, soon after Newton's death. One might expect it then to be no more than a publisher's hack work, of which we have so many dismalexamples. But Motte appears to have understood the “Principia”, and his language does not date noticeably, and never falls below a good level. The present work is really a republication of Motte, with some improvements, and—it is regrettable to add—one most serious omission.
Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and his System of the World.
Translated into English by Andrew Motte. in 1729. The translations revised, and supplied with an Historical and Explanatory Appendix by Prof. Florian Cajori. Pp. xxxv + 680. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1934.) 35s. net.
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S., R. Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and his System of the World . Nature 135, 128–129 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135128a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135128a0