Colden, Cadwallader. [THE PRINCIPLES OF ACTION IN MATTER, THE GRAVITATION OF BODIES, AND THE MOTION OF PLANETS, EXPLAINED IN THOSE PRINCIPLES.] [London: Dodsley, 1751.] 4to. All pages except for pages 21 – 188 are lacking and here in facsimile. A bound in modern cloth.A fragment only, but interesting because of what appear to be multiple authorial corrections (in the author's hand) which do not match any errata or other copies of this edition (the only edition) we've examined. For example, one note on page 45 states that a portion of that text should have been in one line. In all, about 18 pages bear his corrections in ink. These may have been made in preparation for a second edition, though none was ever published. We also observe that some of the notes suggest a desire to edit the text itself; for example: page 169 "I shall shew in several instances how far the theory agrees." Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776) was a natural scientist as well as acting Governor for the Province of New York. He devoted much of his adult life to correcting mistakes he believed Isaac Newton made, and this book was the result.

Binding with minimal wear, contents rather clean though several leaves have some very light and faded old water-staining to upper margin. Bookplate of Yale University Library to pastedown, with withdrawn stamp.