Isaac Newton’s major work sells for £22k

ONE of the greatest examples of what can be achieved while working from home – Sir Isaac Newton’s 17th century Principia – has sold for £22,000 at auction.

The famous scientist wrote the original Latin version of the text after studying while selfisolating from the bubonic Great Plague between 1665 and 1667.

Newton moved back to his family home to escape the deadly disease – and struck upon findings which would change the world.

He had been at university in Cambridge but was forced to retreat to Woolsthorpe Manor and the safety of the countryside in Grantham, Lincolnshire to prevent contact with others.

Principia, full title Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, was then published in 1687, pulling together many of the studies he carried out at home.

A first edition, English version of the text, published in 1729, has now being sold by Dominic Winter Auctioneers.

Titled The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, it fetched £22,000 at auction.

The book is widely held as one of the most significant works in history.

The outbreak of bubonic plague in 1665 was the worst in England since the Black Death of 1348.

It is estimated to have wiped out a quarter of London’s population in just 18 months.

Newton retreated his family home and embarked upon what is now known as his ‘Annus Mirabilis’ and is where he was said to have seen an apple fall from a tree – which inspired him to come up with the laws of gravity.