THE ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICAL AND GEOMETRICAL. Done into English, with additions and corrections.To which is annexed, Dr. Halley"s Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets, plus the Theory of the Moon's Motion by Sir Isaac Newton. by GREGORY, David.: - 1715

London, printed for John Morphew, Stationers-Hall, 1715. The rare variant Imprint.. FIRST EDITION in English, 1715, 2 volumes, complete set. 8vo, 190 x 120 mm, 7½ x 4½ inches, 32 of 34 engraved plates on 17 folding sheets in Volume I, LACKING 1 LEAF OF PRELIMS v-vi, AND LACKING 1 PLATE with illustrations 5 & 6 printed on the 1 folding sheet, all replaced with yellowish facsimiles on 18th century paper, 45 plates on 21 sheets including 3 on a single sheet, as required in Volume II, a total of 77 original plates of 79. Pages: [2], xii, [2], 512; [4], 465-905, [7], Volume 2 with 1 page of adverts opposite title page and 2 pages of adverts at the end. HALLEY'S WORK ON THE COMETS occupying pages 881-905, ALSO CONTAINS SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S THEORY OF THE MOON'S MOTION pages 563-571. Rebound in modern quarter calf over marbled sides, raised bands with blind rules, contrasting gilt lettered morocco labels, new endpapers. Age-browning throughout including plates, occasional small pale damp stain to margins, occasional small light stain, a few tiny ink spots to 1 page, no loss of legibility, a couple of underlinings, 8 brief ink marginal notes, 7 small corrections to text, 2 plates split on a fold and repaired on blank side at some time with old paper, a few small nicks to edges of folds, bindings tight and firm. A good copy though mostly age-toned throughout. David Gregory (1659-1708) was a nephew of the great Scottish mathematician James Gregory. At the age of 24 he was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Edinburgh and soon after began a long and complex retationship with Isaac Newton, corresponding on various topics including Principia. The two met in London in 1691 which resulted in Newton writing a letter recommending Gregory for the post of Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. This he was awarded, even though Edmond Halley had also applied. In the same year Gregory was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Gregory kept records of his conversations with Newton and these were published in The Correspondence of Isaac Newton. Gregory's Elements of Astronomy contains Newton's Theory of the Moon's Motion. It also contains the second edition of Edmund Halley's important pamphlet, Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets, first published in 1705. See: Grace Babson Collection, Second Supplement, page 17, No. 032 and page 28, No. 058; G. J. Gray, Sir Isaac Newton, A Bibliography, page 26, No. 88; Gjertsen, The Newton Handbook, page 242; The Haskell F. Norman Library of Science and Medicine, Volume 1, page 358, No. 979; Sotheby's The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield, Science D-H, Part 4, lot number 934; Louis A. Kenney, Catalogue of the Rare Astronomical Books In The San Diego State University Library, page 141, No. 77. THE ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICAL AND GEOMETRICAL. was first published in Latin in 1702; ESTC T193055, stating one of two imprint variants of this edition and listing 2 copies only of this imprint, one in UK, Oxford University, Bodleian Library and one in USA, Bowdoin College. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.