Half a century ago, Cambridge University Press published the collected letters of Isaac Newton. In this talk, I share my favorite examples of Newton as correspondent. From his first known letter in 1661, through exchanges with Leibniz, Locke, et. al., and on to items from the period when he ran the Mint in London, these writings give glimpses of Newton at his best . . . and his worst. I’ll end with Newton’s most-quoted line (about standing on the shoulders of giants) and about how my search for the original document led me, improbably, to a library in Philadelphia.

Note: This talk contains no mathematics.

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