We describe a revised collection of the number of sunspot groups from 1610 to the present. This new collection is based on the work of Hoyt and Schatten (Solar Phys. 179, 189, 1998). The main changes are the elimination of a considerable number of observations during the Maunder Minimum (hereafter, MM) and the inclusion of several long series of observations. Numerous minor changes are also described. Moreover, we have calculated the active-day percentage during the MM from this new collection as a reliable index of the solar activity. Thus, the level of solar activity obtained in this work is greater than the level obtained using the original Hoyt and Schatten data, although it remains compatible with a grand minimum of solar activity. The new collection is available in digital format.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physic

The shape of the Sun's secular activity cycle is found to be a saw-tooth curve. The additional Schwabe cycle 4 (1793 -1799) suggested by Usoskin, Mursula, and Kovaltsov (2001a) is taken into account in the telescopic sunspot record (1610 -2001). Instead of a symmetrical Gleissberg cycle, a saw-tooth of exactly eight Schwabe sunspot maxima ('Pulsation') is found. On average, the last sunspot maximum of an eight-Schwabe-cycle saw-tooth pulsation has been about three times as high as its first maximum. The Maunder Minimum remains an exception to this pattern. The Pulsation is defined as a secular-scale envelope of Schwabe-cycle maxima, whereas the Gleissberg cycle is a result of long-term smoothing of the sunspot series.

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