“Pray send back this foul proof:” Thomas Birch and the correction of Elizabeth Carter’s Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy Explain’d for the Use of the Ladies (1739)

Abstract

In 1739, Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806) published Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy Explain’d for the Use of the Ladies, a translation of Francesco Algarotti’s Il Newtonianismo per le Dame (1737). This article discusses the role of Thomas Birch (1705–1766) in the production of the book, assessing manuscript and print evidence in the British Library to show that he contributed notes, research services, and helped with the proof correction. In the same period, for several months, Carter and Birch socialized together, a connection that has been read as a courtship. After publication, and the end of their connection, Birch assembled a collection of his memorandums, their letters, drafts, and poems, and the foul proof in his archive, as an emotional memorial of their encounter.