Catalogue Entry: THEM00436

Fragments on history and prophecy.

Author: Isaac Newton, John Stanley

Source: Yahuda Ms. 7.3i, 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 Is. ch.

[2] Epist 1 ad Q. Fratrē. p 403

[3] c c In Platone p. 78

[Editorial Note 1] The following two words (1 deleted) function as a catchword for the text in Newton's had in the left margin.

[4] ✝ The fabulous writings of Ctesias

[5] Like splitting two ✝

[Editorial Note 2] Authorial edit: the following material has been sequentially revised as indicated by numerals 1–12, before deletion. After deletion, numerals 1–6 remain.

[6] Pergamus

[Editorial Note 3] This portion has undergone several changes: 1. "have pluckt" 2. "have been pluckt" 3. "pluckt" or "have pluckt" 4. "have been pluckt".

[Editorial Note 4] This portion has undergone several changes: 1. "dominion was taken" 2. "dominion has been taken" 3. "taken" 4. "the dominion of this Beast has been taken" (I cannot quite decipher an order for the 2 previous deleted words b/c I'm not certain what they are).

[Editorial Note 5] The following sentence until "...four horns was taken away" functions as a catchphrase.

[Editorial Note 6] This passage has undergone several changes: 1. "to the description of" 2. "to describe" 3. "to the desciption of".

[Editorial Note 7] "323." is written on the next line in the space where main text would normally be. Due to a slight change in the slant, shape, and ink of his hand between "who" and "ended", it seems he broke off here to add the " ...heathen Emperor of the Greeks. A. C." bit, before continuing the main text.

[Editorial Note 8] This folio looks like a series of notes/references and subsequent drafts crafted from them; I've divided these for clarity.

[Editorial Note 9] There is room made for this comma before the "s" in "words" below. It looks like he stopped at "word" to write this addition, before continuing the main text.

[Editorial Note 10] A line just above this addition may indicate its segregation from surrounding text, the connection of the addition written around it, or a slightly misaligned strikethrough.

[Editorial Note 11] The following "abated but yet lasted" might instead be an undeleted inline extension of the previous deleted addition, and this addition ends with "to the barbarians".

[7] a in vita Chrysostomi.

[8] b In vitis sanctorum patr{u}m c. 21, de Iacobo

[9] 6 Cod. Theod. Tit. 19 l. 1

[10] Oros. l. 7. c. 37.

[11] Cladian de Bello Getico

[12] Prud. In Symmach. l. 12.

[13] {illeg} the Africans manifested by these sanguinary laws

[Editorial Note 12] This word has undergone a series of authorial edits. Proposed order: 1. "taking" 2. "take" or "taken" 3. "took".

[Editorial Note 13] This and the following paragraph refer to edicts yet do not contain space or indicators for adding them; it seems that here, his primary focus was the flow of his own work surrounding them.

[Editorial Note 14] Sequence of corrections: 1. "had taken" 2. had them taken" 3. "took".

[Editorial Note 15] The difference in line thickness and flow of text suggest that this section was deleted before the above "So when...".

[Editorial Note 16] Order of the following two points has been reversed by author one or more times; they are transcribed in the order they appear.

[Editorial Note 17] Likely edit sequence: 1. "Such a Temple as this" 2. "Such a Temple Of this kind" 3. "Such a Church Of this kind"; plus it's not clear if he had kept "Such a Church" on its own at some point.

[Editorial Note 18] This division (clearly a new draft of the above) may or may not have been struck through at the same time with its predecessor - there's a small break in the line.

[Editorial Note 19] Based on ink quality, hand, and workflow, this addition was part of the interlinear one above, broken up later by the blockStrikethrough.

[14] a Baron. ad Ann 590 Num. 13.

[15] Greg. M. lib. 9. Epist 9

[16] Hist Miscel. l. 17. Cedren Annal. in Maurit.

[17] a Baron an 591 num. 36.

[Editorial Note 20] First of 3 passages discussing "both Dragon & Beast".

[Editorial Note 21] The following section re-ordered using circled numerals 2, 1, 3.

[18] Diodor l. 1. Maimon in{illeg} Mor. Nevoc. l. 3. c. 46. Seld{illeg} in Proleg. in l. de D{îj}s Syr. {3}

[Editorial Note 22] Second of 3 passages discussing "both Dragon & Beast".

[19] Epist 70

[20] Epist 182

[21] Epist 73

[22] Epist 80

[23] Orat 20

[24] Orat. 37

[25] Iamb. 23.

[26] Gr. Naz. Ca{r}m. de vita sua

[27] Epist. c. 3.

[Editorial Note 23] Based on the flow of text and positioning on the page, the above text seems to have been added after beginning the following paragraph with a cancelled "The".

[Editorial Note 24] Third of 3 passages discussing "both Dragon & Beast".

[Editorial Note 25] These dashes refer to a section of the line above.

[Editorial Note 26] Alternate reading of above paragraph.

[28] Vide etiam Greg. Naz. Carm. Iamb 18.

[Editorial Note 27] The short passage following this has been deleted and replaced, successively, with a short passage written as a separate paragraph below this one; then a second, longer passage after that, which eventually becomes the main text, and which incorporates the original shorter addition. The undeleted remainder of this paragraph is then inserted back into the longer of the two additions.

[29] Orat 2 de. S. Ba Vide by la St Hom. 47 in S. Iulian

[30] Ep. 27 ad Eustochium.

[31] Hist Laus. c. 67.

[32] Edit. Frontonis Ducæi Tom. 1.

[Editorial Note 28] These references seem to have been added as he found them; here they use up the left margin.

[33] d See Baron an. 591 num

[Editorial Note 29] From here until the end of this folio, main text body written across the left margin.

[Editorial Note 30] This is part of the previous addition, but struck through en bloc with the following text (deletion indicated by "[]").

[Editorial Note 31] The following text order modified by author using numerals 1–4

[34] Buxtorf. in Synagoga Iudaica. c. 2{1}{7}

[35] Buxtorf. in Synagoga Iudaica. c. 18.

[36] Lex 2 de Fide Catholica in Cod. Theod.

[Editorial Note 32] This passage (the following 2 paragraphs) has been block-deleted, then the deleting stroke itself deleted.

[37] Ezek. 29.3 & 32.2.

[38] Isa. 51.9

[39] a See Bochart Geog. l. 4. c. 24 p. 294.

[40] Psal. 74.13, 14

[41] Ezek 2 & 3.

[42] Chrysost. Tract 118 in 19 Chap. Ioan.

[Editorial Note 33] Authorial edit: reordering of the following items as indicated by numerals 1–4.

[43] Baron. ad A. C 367. sect. 19.

[44] Serm. 92

[45] Can. 23.

[Editorial Note 34] The following addition/deletion sequence has undergone several revisions; the code cannot clearly represent which came first, so I have separated the deletions but left them in original order of appearance.

[Editorial Note 35] Because of damage it is not certain that this folio continues from the previous.

[Editorial Note 36] Possible new paragraph here.

[Editorial Note 37] Multi-layered authorial edit. Suggested order: 1. "...on earth & carries the keys..." 2. "...on earth & that he weares the keys..." 3. "...on earth & carries the keys..." 4. "...on earth & in token of his power he weares the keys...".

© 2024 The Newton Project

Professor Rob Iliffe
Director, AHRC Newton Papers Project

Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

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

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