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When Isaac Newton died in 1727 he left a rich legacy in terms of draft manuscripts, encompassing a variety of topics: natural philosophy, mathematics, alchemy, theology, and chronology, as well as papers relating to his career at the Mint. One thing that immediately strikes us is the textuality of Newton's legacy: images are sparse. Regarding his scholarly endeavours we witness the same practice. Newton's extensive drafts on theology and chronology do not contain a single illustration or map. Today we have all of Newton's draft manuscripts as witnesses of his working methods, as well as access to a significant number of books from his own library. Drawing parallels between Newton's reading practices and his natural philosophical and scholarly work, this paper seeks to understand Newton's recondite writing and publishing politics.

This article introduces the editorial history of the most important of Isaac Newton's posthumously published scholarly writings, a history so far unwritten. Often attributed solely to Newton's executor, John Conduitt, the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) was in fact co-edited with the antiquarian Martin Folkes, who would eventually follow in Newton's footsteps and become President of the Royal Society. Likewise, the Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St John (1733) was edited by at least half a dozen of Newton's closest friends and colleagues. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but in particular during the twentieth, these publications were treated as solely Newton's, and analysed as such by both contemporaries and modern historians. However, as this paper shows, the Chronology and in particular the Observations were as much the product of their editors as of their author, and should be considered as such. Reconstructing the editorial history of Newton's posthumous publications reveals a fascinating tale of how his friends, relatives and colleagues tried to piece together meaning from the thousands of manuscripts with which they were confronted, a challenge that continues to this day.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) devoted ample time to the study of ancient chronology, resulting in the posthumously published <i>The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended</i> (1728). Here, Newton attempted to show how the antiquity of Greece, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and other Mediterranean nations could be reinterpreted to fit the timespan allowed for by Scripture. Yet, as the hundreds of books from his library and the thousands of manuscript pages devoted to the topic show, the <i>Chronology</i> was long in the making. This volume provides the first full analysis of the genesis and evolution of Newton's studies of ancient history and demonstrates how these emerged from that other major project of his, the interpretation of the apocalyptic prophecies in Scripture. A careful study of Newton's reading, note-taking, writing, and ordering practices provides the key to unravelling and reconstructing the chronology of Newton's chronological studies, bringing to light writings hitherto hidden in the archives.

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