| Title |
The Portsmouth Collection |
| Reference |
GBR/0012/MS Add.3958-4007 |
| Creator |
Newton, Sir Isaac, 1642-1727, Knight |
| Covering Dates |
1664–1732 (Dates are approximate.) |
| Extent and Medium |
10 Boxes and 19 volumes; paper |
| Repository |
Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives |
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| Content and context |
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Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he lived from 1661 till 1696, being appointed to the Lucasian chair in 1669. It was there that he carried out his ground-breaking work on a variety of scientific and mathematical subjects, most notably gravity, optics and calculus. In 1696 he moved to London, having been appointed Warden of the Royal Mint, of which he was made Master in 1699.
The Portsmouth Collection is the principal collection of Isaac Newton's scientific and mathematical papers, including early drafts of the Principia, and his correspondence with Oldenburg, Halley Flamsteed and many of the other most prominent scientists of his day.
After his death, Newton's manuscripts passed to his niece Catherine and her husband John Conduitt. In 1740 the Conduitt's daughter Catherine, married John Wallop, who became Viscount Lymington when his father was created first Earl of Portsmouth. Their son became the second earl, the manuscripts thus being inherited by succeeding generations of the Portsmouth family.
In 1872, the fifth earl passed all the Newton manuscripts he possessed to the University of Cambridge, where a catalogue of the collection was made by a syndicate comprising the University scientists George Gabriel Stokes, John Couch Adams, Henry Richards Luard and George Downing Living (see 'Finding Aids')
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Access and Use
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The collection is only available in microfilm form (MS 9575-), with the exception of MS.Add.4007, which is open for consultation by holders of a Reader's Ticket valid for the Manuscripts Reading Room.
Please cite as Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, The Portsmouth Collection, MS Add.3958-4007
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| Further information |
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The Portsmouth Collection is available on microfilms published by Chadwick Healey.
Other Newton manuscripts are in the Macclesfield Collection (Add.9597).
A Catalogue of the Portsmouth Collection of Books and Papers Written by or Belonging to Sir Isaac Newton (Cambridge, 1888) is available for consultation in the manuscripts reading room.
For queries about this collection, please contact the Curator of Scientific Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library on mss@lib.cam.ac.uk.
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| Manuscripts/MS Add.3958-4007 contains: |
|
MS Add.3958
|
Early Papers by Newton. |
c 1665-c 1672 |
|
MS Add.3959
|
Elementary Mathematics. |
c 1700 |
|
MS Add.3960
|
Fluxions. |
c 1665-c 1700 |
|
MS Add.3961
|
Enumeration of Lines of the Third Order. |
c 1706 |
|
MS Add.3962
|
On the Quadrature of Curves. |
c 1700-c 1706 |
|
MS Add.3963
|
Papers Relating to Geometry. |
c 1665-c 1727 |
|
MS Add.3964
|
Miscellaneous Mathematical Subjects. |
c 1665-c 1727 |
|
MS Add.3965
|
Papers Connected with the Principia (mostly holograph). |
1686–1725 |
|
MS Add.3966
|
Papers Connected with the Principia on Lunar Theory. |
1687–1727 |
|
MS Add.3967
|
Papers Connected with the Principia - Mathematical Problems. |
c 1700-c 1713 |
|
MS Add.3968
|
Papers Relating to the dispute Respecting the Invention of Fluxions. |
1665–1727 |
|
MS Add.3969
|
Astronomy. |
c 1695-c 1720 |
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MS Add.3970
|
Hydrostatics, Optics, Sound and Heat. |
c 1672-c 1706 |
|
MS Add.3971
|
Miscellaneous Copies of Letters and Papers. |
c 1722 |
|
MS Add.3972
|
Papers on Finding the Longtitude at Sea. |
1697–1725 |
|
MS Add.3973
|
Notes of Experiments, all in Newton's Hand. |
1670–1700 |
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MS Add.3974
|
Miscellaneous Notes. |
c 1670-c 1680 |
|
MS Add.3975
|
A Manuscript Note-book. Notes on precious stones, colours, temperatures, salts, medical matters, alchemy and other subjects, in English and Latin. |
c 1681-c 1693 |
|
MS Add.3976
|
Correspondence with Oldenburg. |
1672–1677 |
|
MS Add.3977
|
Correspondence with Collins and Wallis. |
1671–1699 |
|
MS Add.3978
|
Letters from Arthur Storer to Dr Babington and to Newton. |
1678–1683 |
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MS Add.3979
|
Correspondence with Flamsteed. |
1680–1699 |
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MS Add.3980
|
Gregory to Newton. |
1684–1702 |
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MS Add.3981
|
Letters from Halley to Newton Relating to the Publication fo the First Edition of the 'Principia'. NOW IN KING'S COLLEGE. |
|
|
MS Add.3982
|
Halley to Newton About Comets' Orbits. |
c 1695-c 1725 |
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MS Add.3983
|
Cotes's Letters to Newton, mostly published in Edleston's Correspondence of Newton and Cotes. |
1710–1738 |
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MS Add.3984
|
Rough Drafts of Some of Newton's Letters to Cotes. |
c 1710-c 1715 |
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MS Add.3985
|
Keill to Newton. |
1711–1718 |
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MS Add.3986
|
Pemberton's Letters to Newton While Editing the 3rd Edition of the 'Principia'. |
1723–1726 |
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MS Add.3987
|
The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended. A draft of the treatise published in 1727.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.125 [folio]; paper. |
c 1700 |
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MS Add.3988
|
A short chronicle from the first memory of things in Europe to the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. ? A note on f.1r reads: "This is the original manuscript from which Sr Isaac Newton's Chronology was printed in 1727. & belongs to John Conduitt.".
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727.
ff.122 [folio]; paper. |
1727 |
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MS Add.3989
|
Observations on the Prophesies. 'Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St John'. A collection of fragments assembled by Newton's half-nephew Benjamin Smith with a view to publication, and printed posthumously, 1733.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727.
ff.126 [folio]; paper. |
c 1700 |
|
MS Add.3990
|
De motu Corporum Liber Secundus. Draft of 'De Mundi Systemate', first printed in 1731.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.56 [folio]; paper. |
c 1687 |
|
MS Add.3991
|
A copy of the first edition of the Principia, interleaved with notes in Newton's hand - among the leaves inserted is the preface to the third edition. Moved to Rare Books: Adv. B. 39.1. |
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MS Add.3992
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A copy of the second edition of the Principia, interleaved with notes and additions in Newton's hand. Moved to Rare Books: Adv. B. 39.2. |
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MS Add.3993
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Arithmetica Universalis. Incomplete draft.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.139 [quarto]; paper. |
c 1705 |
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MS Add.3994
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A copy of Schooten's edition of Descartes' Geometry, (Lugd. 1649), with a few notes in Newton's hand. Moved to Rare Books: Adv. D. 39.1. |
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MS Add.3995
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Treatise on Algebra and Miscellaneous Unrelated Material. In Newton's and one other hand.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.94 [small quarto]; paper. |
c 1670 |
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MS Add.3996
|
Trinity College Notebook.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.140 [quarto]; paper. |
c 1661-c 1665 |
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MS Add.3997
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Mathematical Treatise. St John Hare, unnamed mathematical treatise in 25 chapters.
Creator: Hare, St John.
pp.134 [octavo]; paper. |
c 1680 |
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MS Add.3998
|
Compendium mathematicoalgebraicum ex Oughtredo Wallisio. Notes from mathematical sources, with tables of weights and measures.
Creator: Hare, St John.
ff.122 [octavo]; paper. |
c 1675 |
|
MS Add.3999
|
Lettres de M. Leibnitz and M. le Chevalier Newton sur l'invention des Fluxions et du Calcul Differentiel. Moved to Rare Books: Adv. D. 39.2. |
|
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MS Add.4000
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College Notebook. A small note-book, written from both ends, containing early exercises - extraction of the square and cube root, elementary Geometry, etc. - followed by annotations of Wallis's Arithmetica Infinitorum. This is preceded by a note of Newton's fixing by an entry in his account-book the date of the annotations as being in the winter 1664-1665, at which time he says he found the method of infinite series. Also notes on music, chances etc.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.163 [octavo]; paper. |
1664–1665 |
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MS Add.4001
|
Proof sheets of the edition of Newton's Opticks, with a few MS. additions by Newton. Moved to Rare Books: Adv. D. 39.3. |
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MS Add.4002
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Lectiones Opticae. Early draft.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.185 [quarto]; paper. |
January 1669 |
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MS Add.4003
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A book containing the commencement of a work on Hydrostatics, the greater part consisting of a dissertation partly metaphysical, partly theistic, on the constitution of matter, motion, the Cartesian philosophy etc.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.191 [quarto]; paper. |
c 1670 |
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MS Add.4004
|
Newton's Waste Book. A commonplace book, written originally by the Rev. B. Smith, D.D. (Newton's step-father), used by Newton for geometrical and optical drafts, notes and calculations.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician.
ff.2181 [folio] approx.; paper. |
1612-c 1685 |
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MS Add.4005
|
Miscellaneous Papers.
Creator: Newton, Sir Isaac, Knight, 1642-1727, natural philosopher and mathematician. |
1685–1833 |
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MS Add.4006
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Correspondence, Articles of Agreement etc. about the Publication of Flamsteed's Observations. |
1705–1716 |
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MS Add.4007
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Copies of Newton-related letters and memoranda.
Creator: Adams, John Couch, 1819-1892, astronomer. |
1875–1886 |
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