First Edition in English in two volumes. This edition was translated by Andrew Motte and includes “The Laws of the Moon’s Motion, According to Gravity” by John Machin. It was printed two years after Newton’s death and includes forty-nine engraved folding geometric diagrams and tables. Often referred to simply as “Principia,” it was first published in 1687 in three books in Latin; Newton published two other editions in 1713 and 1726 with corrections and annotations.

It is considered to be one of the most important scientific works in history. “Principia” lays out Newton’s laws of motion, which describe the relationship between an object, the forces acting on it, and the object’s motion in regards to those forces; Newton’s law of universal gravitation; and a derivation of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Newton also applied these theories to astronomy and how the celestial bodies move through the solar system and the mass of some of the planets. By formulating these theories, Newton developed the foundation for the branch of physics known as classical mechanics and his mathematical methods helped form the field of calculus.