Excerpt from A Catalogue of the Portsmouth Collection of Books and Papers It has been long known that Sir Isaac Newton left, at his death, a large mass of papers, consisting partly of copies of his works written out or corrected for the press, partly of notes relating to the various subjects in which he was interested, and of an extensive correspondence with English and Foreign mathematicians. These came immediately on his death into the possession of Mr Conduitt, who married Catharine Barton, Newton's favourite and accomplished niece. By the marriage of their only child to the first Lord Lymington, they passed into the hands of the first Lord Lymington, and we find them in October 1751 in the hands of Mr Saunderson of Sheer Lane, for Lord Lymington. Since that time they have remained in the possession of the Portsmouth family. Several years ago the present Earl of Portsmouth expressed a wish to present to the University all that portion of the papers and correspondence which related to science, as he felt that these would find a more appropriate home in the Library of Newton's own University than in that of a private individual. Lord Portsmouth entrusted the whole collection of papers to the University, and the present syndicate was appointed to examine, classify, and divide them. This has proved a lengthy and laborious business, as many of the papers were found to be in great confusion - mathematical notes being often inserted in the middle of theological treatises, and even numbered leaves of MSS. having got out of order. Moreover a large portion of the collection has been grievously damaged by fire and damp. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.