# Is "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" by Isaac Newton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton (Joseph Streater for the Royal Society, London, 1687) is identified by: Quarto (about 238 x 178 mm), London, 1687. London, 1687 is the true first, in Latin; there is no earlier or rival edition, and copies of both title-page issues are first-edition copies.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Quarto (about 238 x 178 mm), London, 1687
- The title page carries the licence 'Imprimatur S. Pepys, Reg
- 1686' — Samuel Pepys was President of the Royal Society when the book was authorised — and Edmond Halley oversaw the publication and distribution, sending out presentation copies at Newton's direction and forwarding Newton forty copies, some bound and some in sheets
- The first edition exists in two title-page issues, both dated 1687 and sharing the same setting of the text
- The commoner and earlier has an uncancelled title with the two-line imprint 'LONDINI, Jussu Societatis Regiae ac Typis Josephi Streater
- Prostat apud plures Bibliopolas', reflecting Halley's plan to place copies on consignment with many booksellers
- Publisher imprint reads Joseph Streater for the Royal Society, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Isaac Newton |
| Publisher | Joseph Streater for the Royal Society, London |
| Year | 1687 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Quarto (about 238 x 178 mm), London, 1687 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Quarto (about 238 x 178 mm), London, 1687. The title page carries the licence 'Imprimatur S. Pepys, Reg. Soc. Praeses. Julii 5. 1686' — Samuel Pepys was President of the Royal Society when the book was authorised — and Edmond Halley oversaw the publication and distribution, sending out presentation copies at Newton's direction and forwarding Newton forty copies, some bound and some in sheets. The first edition exists in two title-page issues, both dated 1687 and sharing the same setting of the text. The commoner and earlier has an uncancelled title with the two-line imprint 'LONDINI, Jussu Societatis Regiae ac Typis Josephi Streater. Prostat apud plures Bibliopolas', reflecting Halley's plan to place copies on consignment with many booksellers. The other has a cancel title with a three-line imprint naming the bookseller Samuel Smith ('Prostant venales apud Sam. Smith ad insignia Principis Walliae in Coemiterio D. Pauli, aliosque nonnullos bibliopolas'), usually called the second issue; most such copies were exported to the Continent, and only two Smith copies in contemporary English bindings were known to the source consulted. Structural points: leaf P4 is a cancel carrying the diagram in correct orientation; woodcut diagrams throughout; one folding engraved plate; an errata leaf near the end, bound between Ooo3 and the final blank Ooo4. References: Babson 11; Wallis 7; Wing N1049; ESTC R33627; PMM 161. Correcting the census note: the print run is not 750 to 1,000. Long-standing estimates run from about 250 to 400 copies; the 2020 Caltech census — which located 386 surviving copies against the 189 found by the 1953 census — argues for perhaps 600 and possibly as many as 750.

## Is this the true first?
London, 1687 is the true first, in Latin; there is no earlier or rival edition, and copies of both title-page issues are first-edition copies. The later Latin editions are the Cambridge 1713 second (edited by Roger Cotes) and the London 1726 third (edited by Henry Pemberton). The first edition in English is Andrew Motte's translation, 'The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy', London: printed for Benjamin Motte, 1729, two volumes octavo (197 x 118 mm), with folding engraved plates and folding charts, and with John Machin's laws of the moon's motion added. It is an important book in its own right and should be named alongside the Latin, but it renders the 1726 third edition — so it is a translation first, not the first appearance of the text. 'First edition in English' and 'first edition' are different claims and are routinely conflated in listings.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club apparatus applies. The practical confusions are the later Latin editions of 1713 and 1726 offered as a 'Principia first edition' on the strength of the title alone, the 1729 Motte translation described as a 'first edition' without the qualifier 'in English', and modern facsimiles and reissues. The Pepys imprimatur on the title and the two 1687 imprint forms — not the date on the title alone — are what settle a copy.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica* by Isaac Newton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/philosophiae-naturalis-principia-mathematica
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.