IL NEWTONIANISMO PER LE DAME [Newtonian Principles For Ladies]

Newton For Women Readers

IL NEWTONIANISMO PER LE DAME [Newtonian Principles For Ladies]

By Francesco Algarotti from writing by Isaac Newton, with frontispiece by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, engraved by Giuseppe Filosi

1737

Early pirated edition of this "runaway best-seller" targeted at women that introduced popular audiences to Newton's work on light and color (Mazzotti) – an apparently unauthorized printing issued in the same year as the first edition.

Very good.

Price: $6,000.00

IL NEWTONIANISMO PER LE DAME [Newtonian Principles For Ladies]

"[IL NEWTONIANISMO PER LE DAME] responded to a gap in popular science: a lacuna of works for a gendered audience explaining Newton's works in entertaining and even gripping ways." – Laura Miller

IL NEWTONIANISMO PER LE DAME was "one of the main channels through which Newtonian ideas reached the general public in continental Europe" (Mazzotti, Newton, 119). Francesco Algarotti was particularly concerned with furthering Newton's ideas among European readers who lacked the mathematical expertise to engage with them directly: IL NEWTONIANISMO functioned as a grassroots method of disseminating scientific and philosophical knowledge that challenged some tenants of the Catholic Church (which banned the book in 1739).
Algarotti's framing of IL NEWTONIANISMO owed a great deal to his conversations with French natural philosopher and mathematician Émilie du Châtelet, whose mannerisms he used as a model for the marchesa di E** (and whose likeness he used for the marchesa in the work's frontispiece). Du Châtelet was "understandably surprised and indignant" at her character's portrayal, reduced to a "rather dim-witted" receptacle for the cavaliere to expound into (Mazzotti, 86) — a particularly ironic framing, as du Châtelet was one of the most prescient advocates in Europe for Newton's work.
IL NEWTONIANISMO is an early example of a mathematical or scientific work that targeted women in particular, and it was quite successful in its aim. It found a ready audience, running through several editions and an array of translations. The popularity of IL NEWTONIANISMO inspired imitators and outright piracy: such is the case with this copy, which is set in a subtly different type face and features a re-engraved frontispiece, among other slight aesthetic differences. (With thanks to Dr. Jamie Cumby of the Linda Hall Library for providing information that helped us identify this edition.)
This pirated copy represents a fascinating moment in the history of scientific communication, demonstrating how publishers took advantage of the public's demand for access to science to bring to market less-than-legal editions.

Read more: Laura Miller, "Publishers and Gendered readership on English-Language Editions of IL NEWTONIANISMO PER LE DAME," Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture, 42(1); Massimo Mazzotti, "Newton for Ladies," British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 37 no. 2.

The Object

Napoli [likely Venice]: n.p, 1737. Full title: Il Newtonianismo per le dame, ovvero dialoghi sopra la luce e i colori. Quarto. 8.75'' x 6.5''. Original laced-case stiff vellum binding with gilt spine lettering. Red and brown stamped edges. Engraved frontispiece. XII, 300 pages, collated complete. Early owner name to front flyleaf, "Giuseppe Jonsis," below earlier, crossed-out owner name. Bookplate of publisher Leo S. Olschki to front pastedown. Contemporary monogram owner stamp to title page. Binding with a bit of loss to head of spine, light soiling; a few tiny wormholes to joints. Boards lightly bowed. Front flyleaf with some toning, leaves with scattered light foxing to margins. Tight.

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