The belief entertained by some writers that Newton’s edition of Bernhard Varen’s Geographia generalis was simply a verbatim reprint of the original Amsterdam edition of 1650, or of 1664 or 1671, which did not demand Newton’s thoughtful attention, is erroneous. When the first edition went through the press, Varen is said to have been in a bad state of health, which would account for certain gross errors in the text which needed correction, and for the absence of geometric figures which the reader finds it irksome to supply from the statements in the text. The editions of 1650 and 1671 contain only three figures. In Newton’s edition (1672) these are redrawn in improved form and thirty other geometric figures are added. This fact alone indicates that Newton read the text critically. That these drawings are really Newton’s own work is evident from his remark in a letter of May 25, 1672, to Collins : “The book here in the press is Varenius his Geography, for which I have prepared schemes.”