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The Sixth Edition, corrected. 21 x 13 cm. (4), [Dedication], xiv [Preface], (4) [TOC], 396 pages plus 10 pages Index. With 26 numbered Plates and two folding Plates showing the surface of the Moon. Contemporary polished calf. Black spine label. Very good condition. Some shelf wear, rubbing and bumping. Edges and end papers dust dulled. Plate 1 with a long closed tear. Half of Plate 13 missing. All other Plates in very good condition. John Keill (1671 - 1721) was a Scottish mathematician, natural philosopher, and cryptographer who was an important defender of Isaac Newton. Keill was born in Edinburgh and studied at Edinburgh University under David Gregory. In 1692, he obtained his bachelor's degree with a distinction in physics and mathematics. Keill then attended Balliol College, Oxford, obtaining an MA on 2 February 1694. After being appointed a lecturer in experimental philosophy at Hart Hall, Keill started giving lectures and performing experiments based on Newton's findings. He instructed his students on the laws of motion, the principles of hydrostatics and optics, and Newtonian propositions on light and colours. In 1700, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. However, after failing to get an academic appointment at Oxford in 1709, Keill left the university to seek a government position. In 1709, Keill was appointed treasurer of a charitable fund to resettle war refugees from the German states. He accompanied at least one group of German refugees to the British Province of New York. In 1711, Keill accepted the position of decipherer to Anne, Queen of Great Britain. His responsibilities included explaining old manuscripts to the sovereign. In 1712, Keill returned to Oxford as Savilian Professor of Astronomy. On 9 July 1713, he was awarded the DM degree. In his later years, Keill became involved in the controversy regarding Gottfried Leibniz's alleged plagiarising of Newton's invention of calculus, serving as Newton's chief defender. In 1717, Keill married Mary Clements, a woman 25 years his junior and the daughter of an Oxford bookbinder. The marriage created great scandal at the time as Clements was from a lower class. On 31 August 1721, Keill died in London from a sudden illness, possibly food poisoning.
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