Arithmetica Universalis;

First edition of Newton's treatise on algebra, his 'most often read and republished mathematical work' (Whiteside).

'Sometime between the autumn of 1683 and early winter of 1684, Newton, according to the statues of the Lucasian Chair, deposited [with the university] his Lucasian Lectures on Algebra. The lectures bear dates from 1673 to 1683, but these were added in retrospect and it is highly unlikely that they were ever delivered to Cambridge students.... From one point of view Arithmetica Universalis can be seen as a fulfilment of the program outlined by Descartes in Géometrie because it teaches how problems, especially geometrical problems (but also arithmetical and mechanical ones), can be translated into the language of algebra, which is here seen as the tool for problematic analysis; on the other hand, Arithmetica Universalis contains two criticisms directed at Descartes', those being the preference for Apollonian geometry over Cartesian algebra in solving indeterminate problems, and the argument that Descartes relied to heavily on algebraic criteria (Guicciardini, Isaac Newton on Mathematical Certainty and Method, pp 61-62).

By 1707 Newton had moved to London and his successor, mathematician William Whiston, took it upon himself to edit and publish the text. It is unclear how much say Newton had in this, but he was unhappy with various aspects of the editing and typesetting and refused to have his name on the title page (though in the end most of Whiston's changes would be retained in the 1722 edition seen through the press by Newton himself) (Cohen, 'The Case of the Missing Author' in Isaac Newton's Natural Philosophy, pp. 35-38).

First edition; 8vo (20 x 12.5 cm); contemporary ownership inscription in ink to front endpapers, contents fresh; contemporary sprinkled calf ruled in blind with floral tools in the corners, red speckled edges, spine lettered in gilt but rubbed with loss of the gilt, joints, ends of spine, and hinges professionally conserved, very good condition; 343 pp.