Long before becoming one of the most celebrated figures in the history of science, Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) kept this pocket-sized memorandum book, filling it with notes distilled from his reading. The small, vellum-bound manuscript bears some of Newton’s earliest writing, dating to the end of his grammar school days and start of his university career at Trinity College, Cambridge, long before he would become one of the greatest scientists of the 17th century during the Scientific Revolution The notebook offers a precious window into Newton’s early life and mind. Philip Palmer, Robert H. Taylor Curator and Department Head, Literary and Historical Manuscripts, takes a close look at this testament to Newton's intellectual curiosity.
Newton’s pocket memorandum book is part of The Morgan Library & Museum’s permanent collection in New York City.
My name is Philip Palmer. I'm the Robert H. Taylor Curator and Department Head of Literary and
Historical Manuscripts here at the Morgan. Today I'm going to show you a pocket-sized notebook
kept by Sir Isaac Newton when he was a teenager. Sir Isaac Newton was one of the great scientists
of the 17th century during the scientific revolution. He discovered differential calculus,
universal theory of gravitation, and also the heterogeneity of light.
He was also a very curious person and had an unshakable thirst for knowledge.
And this notebook, which is not really a scientific treatise, it's largely about the
visual arts and about language, shows that curiosity and shows him pursuing topics that
he may not have taken much further but clearly interested him as a young man.
This notebook offers us a glimpse at his life before he became a household name.
This tiny manuscript notebook was started by Newton when he was 17 years old in 1659,
on the cusp of his university career at Cambridge University before his great discoveries in the
1660s. And you can see that it's roughly the size of a modern smartphone. It was meant to be carried
around, it's portable, and it contained a kind of information that was meant to be carried out
of the study and into the wider world. This manuscript offers fascinating insight into what
Newton was reading and thinking about in this early period of his life. At this point, we know
Newton was an amateur artist. He copied a number of recipes for colored pigments, including a sea
color made from privet berries, a hair color made from umber, a blood red color made from sheep's
blood. We also know that later on, Newton would write a famous book on optics published in 1704.
There's this great section titled, Things Hurtful for the Eyesight and Things Good for the Eyes.
Things hurtful for the eyes include garlic and onions, things good for the eyesight include
other kinds of herbs and plants, but it also includes colors in these two categories. Red
and white can actually be harmful for the eyes, green and pleasant colors good for the eyes.
At a certain point, and this is a fascinating feature of this manuscript, Newton flipped the
book over and started writing from the other end. So we really have two different books in one, and
the second part of the manuscript contains word lists, English word lists categorized into different
topics. One can literally imagine Newton walking around and observing the world for words to add
to these lists. This is one of those objects that's, I think, just incredible to know it's
even in our collection. Seeing such a famous name like Sir Isaac Newton and seeing a sort of
unfamiliar side of his life and work, I think it just provides a kind of an untold story about
someone like Newton that's really fascinating and humanizing. It's surviving in its original
binding from 1659 when Newton purchased it. We even have the price on the title page.
It's an unprepossessing sort of manuscript. It's humble and I like that about it.
