Wrote Letter L-511 of 1714-11-09 to Isaac Newton, now lost, to cover Letter L-512
This letter is known only by reference in other sources.
Leeuwenhoek wrote a letter to Isaac Newton, contents unknown, as a cover letter to another letter.
Correspondence of Isaac Newton, vol. VI 1713–1718, p. 186
Item 1114: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to Newton, 29 October 1714.
Catalogue of the Newton Papers Sold by Order of the Viscount Lymington, p. 21
Lot 129: Collection of Letters to Newton, mostly of compliment, from foreign Scholars (in Latin) including: ... A. van Leeuwenhoeck (in Dutch, 4 pp. 4to. Delft 9 Nov. 1714).
The date is New Style, which was eleven days ahead of the Old Style date of 29 October 1714 used by the editors of Newton’s correspondence in London. The letter that the present letter covered is Letter L-512 of 9 November 1714, Collected Letters, vol. 17, where it says that the manuscript “is to be found at Uppsala Universitet, Universitetsbibliotheket, Waller Ms beul-00476; 4 quarto pages.” The reference should be “benl”. The Remarks should note that a Latin translation, probably made in Delft before Leeuwenhoek sent it, is to be found in London, Royal Society, Letter Book Original 15.65, p. 154. The Remarks erroneously state that Letter L-512 was not read at a meeting of the Royal Society. The Letter Book Original notes that it was read three months later on 10 February 1715 O.S.
The question is whether the letter, addressed to the Royal Society, was accompanied by a cover letter addressed to Royal Society president Isaac Newton.
Hall and Tilling, The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, vol. 6, p. 186, notes the existence of two letters:
This letter was sold in a lot of 38 items, ‘mostly [letters] of compliment from foreign scholars (in Latin),’ by Messrs Sotheby in 1936 (Lot 129). All of these items have vanished for the present.
This appears to be the only evidence of correspondence between Newton and the Dutch microscopist; the letter, written in Dutch, may have some connection with another letter of the same date, but written in Latin and addressed to the members of the Royal Society (see Letter Book of the Royal Society of London, xv (copy), p. 182). This was one of the many letters on microscopical observations sent by Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society.
This Latin “letter of the same date” is the translation in the Royal Society’s Letter Book Original. Hall and Tilling’s reference to vol. xv, p. 182, of the Letter Book is also in error. It should be p. 154.
If the description of item 129 in the Catalog of the Newton Papers refers to the present letter, then at four quarto pages, it is more than a simple cover letter. However, it is probable that item 129 is Letter 310 [XIV] L-512 of 9 November 1714, which is also four quarto pages and is in idem, vol. 17.
After being able to examine the “vanished” letters in Uppsala, Rupert Hall wrote an article in 1982 titled “Further Newton Correspondence”, in which he reproduced, and in some cases translated from the Latin, 33 letters of compliment to Newton (and six from Newton to others). He notes that three letters in Uppsala from French and Italian correspondents are not included in the article, which leaves two of the 38 letters in Lot 129 unaccounted for, possibly the two letters from Leeuwenhoek.
Several times prior to 1714, L. sent a cover letter addressed to either the Royal Society president or Philosophical Transactions editor (or, once, to Anthonie Heinsius) that accompanied a letter with scientific observations. Sometimes, the letter that the cover letter accompanied begins with observations and none of the honorifics or other introductory material that begin most of his letters.
The letter in Uppsala, Letter 310 [XIV] L-512, has no introductory material, arguing for the existence of a cover letter. Since around 1700, L. had been addressing those cover letters to Hans Sloane, as editor. However, by 1714 Edmond Halley was editor and was not publishing L. at all, so perhaps L. thought it better to address the cover letter to Newton, as president, as he had in the past sent letters to Royal Society presidents William Brouncker in 1677, Joseph Williamson in 1678, Christopher Wren in 1683, and John Somers in 1701.
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was elected president of the Royal Society on 30 November 1703 and served until 1727.
