The Background to Newton's Principia: A Study of Newton's Dynamical Researches in the Years 1664-84

Herivel, John

Oxford: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1965. Hardcover. Navy blue cloth, gilt letters on spine, 337 pp., 5 BW plates. Good (Ex-library with stamps and labels on spine, inside front and rear covers, ffep and block. Pages are otherwise clean and clear. Binding tight.). Item #147473

The author was stirred to do research after reading Rouse Ball's "Essay on Newton's Principia." "Here was a wealth of documentary evidence far beyond anything hinted at in Rouse Ball's 'Essay,' and it seemed to me then that if one could interpret and order this evidenc it might be possible to present some sort of connected account of the growth of Newton's dynamical thought prior to the composition of the Principia and thus help fill up one of the large gaps in the history of dynamics. The reader may judge to what extent this aim has now been realized." (preface).