Catalogue Entry: THEM00034
Correspondence between Richard Mead, John Conduitt and William Stukeley, relating to and including Stukeley's first memoir of Newton, written at Conduitt's request for incorporation in the latter's projected Life of Newton
- Letter from William Stukeley to John Conduitt, dated 16 January 1727/8
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Letter from William Stukeley to John Conduitt, dated 26 June 1727
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Memoir of Newton, sent to Richard Mead in four instalments with covering letters, dated 26 June to 22 July 1727
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Letter from Richard Mead to John Conduitt, dated 7 July 1727
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Letter from William Stukeley to John Conduitt, dated 15 July 1727
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Letter from William Stukeley to John Conduitt, dated 13 February 1727/8
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Letter from William Stukeley to John Conduitt, dated 29 February 1627/8
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text] - Letter from William Stukeley to John Conduitt, dated 22 July 1727
[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text]
Custodial History
Bought at the Sotheby sale by Keynes for £40.
Sotheby Lot
SL220Contents
[Mead was the go-between who forwarded the successive instalments of Stukeley's memoir to Conduitt. Note that the items are not arranged in chronological sequence.]
1. Original letter from Stukeley to Conduitt regretting that he has been unable to discover any more material for Conduitt's proposed Life of Newton. Grantham, 16 Jan. 1727/8, c. 160 words, 1 p.
2. Original letter from Stukeley to Conduitt promising all possible assistance with the Life. Grantham, 26 June 1727, c. 180 words, 1 p.
3. Original letter from Stukeley to Mead, covering the first instalment of his memoir. Grantham, 24 June 1727, c. 600 words, 1 p.
4. The first three pages of the memoir, including Newton's family tree, in Stukeley's hand, sent with no. 3, c. 1,000 words.
5. The next three pages of the memoir, c. 1,500 words, with a covering note from Stukeley to Mead dated Grantham, 26 June 1727.
6. The next four pages of the memoir, dated Grantham, 1 July 1727, c. 1,800 words.
7. The final three pages of the memoir, dated Grantham, 15 July 1727, c. 1,600 words.
8. Original letter from Mead to Conduitt forwarding the material received from Stukeley to date. Ormond Street, 7 July 1727, c. 60 words, 1 p.
9. Original letter from Stukeley to Conduitt announcing the completion of his memoir and its dispatch to Mead. Grantham, 15 July 1727, c. 100 words, 1 p.
10. Original letter from Stukeley to Conduitt, on the recent birth of Isaac Newton [son of Newton's erstwhile amanuensis Humphrey Newton: see Westfall, Never at Rest, 344] and hopes of gaining access to some of Newton's letters. Grantham, 13 Feb. 1727/8, c. 150 words, 1 p.
11. Original letter, Stukeley to Conduitt, essentially conversational. Grantham, 29 Feb. 1727/8, c. 150 words, 1 p.
12. Original letter, Stukeley to Conduitt, acknowledging certain errors in his memoir and adding some anecdotes. Grantham, 22 July 1727, c. 300 words, 1 p.
Related Material
Stukeley's sketch was later (1752) expanded into a much fuller memoir of Newton (now in the Bodleian library), which was eventually published as Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life by William Stukeley, M.D., F.R.S., ed. A. Hastings White (London, 1936).
