Popular science grew rapidly in London in the early 1700s. The first venues were the coffeehouses, hosting lectures and demonstrations "for the public good" (as the brewer Charles Cox proclaimed) from astronomy to mathematics, chemistry to anatomy (dissections). Ladies, however, did not go to coffeehouses, and a new market suitable for women emerged. The writer and publisher Richard Steele published The Ladies Library, which included scientific topics, in 1714, shortly after he had opened a lecture hall, the Censorium, a venue for lectures on "All the works of Invention, All the Sciences, as well as mechanick Arts." In his promotions, he stress the suitability for women and their presence in a social setting, "Which Room is conveniently fitted for Ladies as well as Gentlemen."

As science, or more precisely the consumption of popular science, became fashionable, it cut across religious and political divisions. It appealed to men, women, and children, although often designed to a "suitable" level for particular audiences. Engaging with science became part of the rising consumer culture, and to be aware of science and conversant with some of it became a mark of social place. Value was placed on a connection to the latest knowledge, with an implication of power and wealth. Even so, the most remarkable new element of this consumption of science was that it was spreading beyond the world of courts and patronage and wealthy gentlemen, available at several levels of society.

Popular books were one avenue of access to science, both making science available and providing a means of support for scientists. Book topics ranged widely, including textbooks, instructional manuals, mathematics, natural theologies, and broad systematic treatises. The "Newtonian" label was applied to all sorts of applications to new areas, from engineering of better machinery to end-times predictions to new business practices. Many of the new books derived from the public demonstrations and lectures given by their authors.

A typical such book is George Wilson's A Complete Course of Chymistry (1699), which detailed the instruments and techniques of the experimental demonstrations that Wilson presented in his lecture series. It illustrated the equipment needed, and guided the reader into investigations. Francis Hauksbee, demonstrator for the Royal Society, produced a guide to various physics experiments, again illustrated. In 1713, J. T. Desaguliers inherited the late Hauksbee's lecture series, and created a highly popular subscription series to lecture-demonstrations of experiments in physics and mechanics (leading to his A Course of Experimental Philosophy). Several demonstrators and philosophers competed in London, with a wide variety of lectures, demonstrations, courses, and books. Along with the presentations rose a market for scientific instruments, necessary for the experiments and investigations not only of the "professionals" but also for their popular audience. These included optical instruments, calculating devices, surveying tools, mechanical devices, and chemical equipment. Not only was science a philosophy safe for religion, it became seen as eminently practical and useful to every level of society.

Willem Jacob 'sGravesande. 1720-21. Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy Confirmed by Experiments, or an Introduction to Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy.

'sGravesande was a Dutch lawyer, member of the Royal Society, and later professor of mathematics and philosophy at Leiden. His text was among the very first popularizations, and become the leading textbook for many years, through several editions. The English translation was by J.T. Desaguliers.

Notice in his opening Preface (pp. i-iii) how he defines physics, following Newton, as dealing only with properties and mathematical laws, not the nature of causes. And it is compatible with religious faith. He opens the text (p. 1) with Newton's laws, and proceeds to present both complicated mathematics and its application in many well-illustrated experiments and devices, demonstrating principles of mechanics.

John Rowning. 1734 (editions through the 1770s). A Compendious System of Natural Philosophy: with Notes Containing the Mathematical Demonstrations.

Despite the title's promise of mathematical demonstrations, Rowning's book used only standard Euclidian geometry and avoided difficult mathematical proofs and problems, even as addressing all the topics of Newtonian mechanics. Thus simplified, it served well for schools and new academies.

In his Preface, he explains how mathematics daunts some students, and thus he has produced this book. It is drawn from his lessons for students at Cambridge -- so clearly students were learning the new physics from tutors, despite the continuation of the standard curriculum. The Introduction (pp. 1-6) clearly argues for the superiority of Newton's new philosophy (following Bacon and the Royal Society) over the Scholastics and the Cartesians.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi. 1748. Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana [Foundations of Analysis for the Use of Italian Youth].

Agnesi was known among the salon intellectuals of Bologna as "much attached to the philosophy of Newton," and as a brilliant expositor of physics and math. This is her textbook for the differential and integral calculus, presented as she said, in that "natural order which provides, perhaps, the best instruction and the greatest light." It was translated into both French and English.

Benjamin Martin. 1751. A Plain and Familiar Introduction to the Newtonian Philosophy. And 1759-82. The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy, 3 volumes.

Martin was a highly popular author on the sciences for the mid-century, his second book being one of the most successful English popular sceintific books. His The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy presented science as a subject suitable and desirable for genteel people to know, and to be able to discuss. The young gentleman illustrated hear assures his sister that ability to discuss natural philosophy is not too masculine a subject, but a proper accomplishment appreciated by the discerning gentleman.

Andrew Baxter. 1754. Matho: or the Cosmotheoria Puerilis; A Dialogue in Which the first principles of Philosophy and Astronomy are accommodated to the capacity of young persons, or such as have yet no Tincture of these Sciences: Hence the Principles of Natural Religion are deduced.

The dialogue is between Matho, "a boy of fine genius," and a young friend, discussing several Newtonian problems, and the superiority of the Newtonian system over Descartes's. Baxter also develops a natural theology on the action of God in nature.

Pierre Desmaizeaus, editor. 1759. Recueil de Diverses Pièces, sur la philosophie, le religion naturelle, l'histoire, les mathématiques, &c. par messieurs Leibniz, Clarke, Newton & authres célèbres.

A highly influential discussion of physics and of religion, based on letters between Leibniz and the Newtonian Samuel Clarke.