Catalogue Entry: THEM00430

Miscellaneous historical and apocalyptic jottings on various scraps of paper (section 7.3o)

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: Yahuda Ms. 7.3o, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel

[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text]

Custodial History

SL245, described in the Sotheby catalogue as c. 300,000 words on 975 pp., was bought at the Sotheby sale by Gabriel Wells for £48 and sold to Yahuda on 1 Aug. 1936 for the sale price plus 15%. On 24 May 1949, Yahuda wrote to the London dealer Heinrich Eisemann, 'As to lot 245 the new arrangement and replacement of the pages resulted in 1,530 pages instead of 975 pages as many pages had to be taken out from other lots. But for this manuscript I have a customer who wants to pay a much higher price than $3,800 suggested by you.' If this was true, the prospective buyer's desire to part with his or her cash presumably waned. There must subsequently have been further reordering of the manuscript as the present Yahuda Ms. 7 amounts to nowhere near 1,530 pp.

Sotheby Lot

SL245 + ?

[1] a Vide Epistolas D. Leibnitij ad D. Des Maizeaux 21 Aug. 1716 & D. Des Maizeaux ad Abbatem de Comitibus 21 Aug. 1718. in Collectionum Tomo 2do pag. 356, & 362.

[2] NB no board the last meeting the vacation Coming on and an aduertisement for this meeting in last Tuesdays Gazette/

[3] ✱ The tenth century was a dark ag{e} & little was done in it. In the eleventh century the contest between the Pope & the Emperor began. In the twelft Century the School divinity began & the Popes established their Soveraignty in Rome & became independent of the Emperor & superior to him in power & did what they pleased in making Decrees & in calling of Councils & dictating to them, & in granting indulgenc{ie}s & bringing all sorts of Appeals before them In the year 1151 Gratian published his Systeme of the Canon law called the Decretal which has ever since been i{n} vogue And in the year 1215 – – – – – changed times & laws. And in this state the Church of Rome continued without much alteration till the Reformation of Luther drew off some nations from her.

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Professor Rob Iliffe
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Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL - newtonproject@history.ox.ac.uk

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