NEWTON, Isaac; JONES, William (ed.).

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Analysis per quantitatum series, fluxiones, ac differentias: cum enumeratione linearum tertii ordinis. First edition, inscribed elaborately in ink on the front free endpaper, "To my much esteemed cousin Mr William Griffith this Book is humbly presented by Wm: Jones". The first major collection of Newton's mathematical papers, it includes his first independent treatise on higher mathematics - outlining his discovery of the differential calculus - and the earliest printed account of his binomial theorem.Newton is now widely acknowledged as the first to have developed calculus, but he and Leibniz initially fought over the claim. In 1708, the Welsh mathematician William Jones (1675-1749) acquired the papers of John Collins, among which were some unpublished mathematical works by Newton. "With the priority dispute showing no signs of dying away, it was clearly to Newton's advantage to have some of his earlier mathematical writings in print for all to see the justice of his claim" (Gjertsen, p. 282). He permitted Jones, who had "a good command and appreciation" of Newton's work (ODNB), to publish this collection under his direction. The main text comprises four tracts: the first appearances in print of "De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas" (written in 1669) and "Methodus differentialis" (written in 1676), plus reprints of two works on quadrature and cubics, first published in Opticks (1704). It is supplemented by Jones's preface - in which he presents evidence of

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