In this research, we present the most important characteristics of the so called and so much explored Jesuit
Edition of Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica edited by Thomas Le Seur and
François Jacquier in the 1739-1742. The edition, densely annotated by the commentators (the notes and
the comments are longer than Newton’s text itself) is a very treasure concerning Newton’s ideas and his
heritage, e.g., Newton’s geometry and mathematical physics. Conspicuous pieces of information as to
history of physics, history of mathematics and epistemology can be drawn from it. This paper opens a series
of study concerning Jesuit Edition, whose final scope is to put in evidence all the conceptual aspects
of such edition and its role inside the spread of scientific ideas and inside the complex relation science,
popularization & society.
