An account of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophical discoveries,: in four books...

London: J. Nourse, etc., 1775. Third edition. Very Good in utility binding.. Octavo (22 cm); [10], xxvi, 412 pages, and 6 folding plates. In quarter leather over artless marbled boards, leather title labels. Joints tender (upper joint cracked but holding). Boards faded and discolored. Front free end leaf loose but present. Engraved armorial bookplate of Dartmouth inventor and MP Arthur Howe Holdsworth (1780-1860) , as well as the later bookplate of American zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid (1865-1947). References: ESTC T122821; Lowndes p. 1444.

Scottish mathematical Colin MacLaurin published the first systematic exposition of Newton's methods, entitled "A treatise on fluxions" in 1742. In the present volume, he expanded on the earlier publication and was working on it at the time of his death. During the 1730s, MacLaurin had been collaborating with Newton's nephew John Conduit in the writing of a biography of Newton. After Conduit's death in 1737, MacLaurin continued with his part in it and the work was published posthumously in 1748. "Gifted with a genius for geometrical investigation second only to Newton" (DSB), Maclaurin was the perfect candidate to write about Newton's discoveries for a broad public.