June 9: Highly important Isaac Newton presentation copy to be offered at Forum Auctions
- by Rupert Powell, Guest Writer, International Head of Books at Forum Auctions
A truly superlative copy of the first edition of Newton’s Opticks, 1704, given by the author to Nicolas Fatio de Duillier will appear at auction for the first time in its history as part of Forum Auctions’ sale of Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper on Tuesday 9th June (NB change of date from 28th May).
The copy, in its totally unrestored original blind-stamped calf binding, bears an inscription in Fatio’s hand “Ex Dono Autoris Clarissimi: Londini, Februarii undecimo, 1703/4. Nicolaus Facius” and also includes ink and pencil corrections, most definitively in Fatio’s own hand. This is the earliest known presentation copy, dated 11th February 1704, a full 5 days before Newton himself presented a copy to the Royal Society, of which he was then President.
Swiss-born Fatio (1664-1753) was himself an important mathematician, becoming a friend and collaborator of the already famed Newton. He came to England in 1687 after working in the Netherlands where he befriended Christiaan Huygens and won fame for uncovering a plot to assassinate William of Orange. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1688 and quickly made the acquaintance of the leading mathematicians and astronomers, in particular Edward Bernard (Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford) and Isaac Newton (Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge). Fatio was then the leading intermediary between Newton and Huygens on the continent and in the 1690s, as Newton’s closest confidant, became the most likely person to oversee a revised edition of the Principia, discussing corrections to the work with Newton and exchanging letters. They also collaborated on practical alchemical experiments and Fatio advised Newton on the purchase of French alchemical books and, most significantly, later became the main defender of Newton in his bitter decade and a half long dispute with Leibniz and other continental mathematicians over the invention of calculus. This is one of only 4 books known to exist from Fatio’s library.
Very few presentation copies of Opticks exist, and none has an inscription in Newton’s own hand. Likewise, very few copies have contemporary annotations. Fatio’s corrections include many not in the printed errata, making this copy undoubtedly the most interesting of all known annotated complete copies.
The combination of the presentation, the close association of the author and the recipient, the earliness of the date of gifting, the annotations and the unsophisticated condition of such an important mathematical work make this a book that would grace any major scientific library. It carries an estimate of £300,000 – 400,000.
For further details, please email me directly at r.powell@forumauctions.co.uk, or visit forumauctions.co.uk.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000
Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
