Catalogue Entry: THEM00078

'Henricus Sextus', Not in Newton's hand.

Author: Isaac Newton

Metadata: Not yet dated, in Latin , c. 1,800 words, 4 pp. plus the margin of one page on 4 ff.

Source: Ms. 422, The Babson College Grace K. Babson Collection of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California, USA

Custodial History

Bought at the Sotheby sale by 'Ulysses' (Jacob Schwartz?) for £5; offered as Lot 757 by an unidentified bookseller (possibly Sotheby's) on 1 August 1939, and finally acquired by Babson College as Lot 420 in the Untermeyer sale (second session), New York, 9 May 1940. In 2006, following the closure of the Dibner Institute, the holdings of the Babson Collection were transferred on permanent loan to the Hungtington Library, San Marino, California.

Sotheby Lot

SL291

Contents

Copy of an anonymous tract, possibly a college declamation. A mainly laudatory account of Henry VI, whose piety and generosity are described as outweighing his weakness as a ruler. Forms part of the documentation assembled by Newton in preparing his bid for the provostship of King's College in 1689.

Notes

According to the Babson catalogue, the hand is 'autograph ... in lettered script', but it bears no resemblance at all to any verified instance of Newton's handwriting.