I Was Originally Sure This Was A Novel

My first impression of Thomas Levenson's Newton and the Counterfeiter was that this was historical fiction, similar to Patrick Culhane's Black Hats, which I reviewed December 8th, 2008. However, while Levenson doesn't have all the information (since not everything was recorded or preserved) it is apparently a fact that Issac Newton became Warden of the Royal Mint in the mid-1690s. As Warden, his job involved guarding against counterfeiting, and investigating and prosecuting those suspected and/or guilty of it. His most difficult adversary seems to have been a William Chaloner, and it's that struggle between the two that occupies the latter half of the book.

The first half alternates between sections (each with several brief chapters) devoted to Newton and Chaloner's lives up to then. Newton's unsurprisingly is much better known, so the section on Chaloner's early years is somewhat shorter and less certain of the details. I would imagine that to someone well-read on Newton, the early parts are rather dull, recounting his disinterest in farming, his throwing himself into his studies, his tendency to not have many close friends, his writing of Principia, and so on. I found it useful for gaining a feel for his personality, his willingness to do the dirty work of scientific investigation himself, and his meticulous nature, both of which served him well in pursuing Chaloner and other criminals.

Levenson eventually gets to what brought Newton to the Mint. He feels that Newton had finally reached an impasse in his alchemical studies, and that he might also have been depressed because a young protege of his, a Fatio de Duillier, had gradually ceased contact with Sir Issac. Newton eventually came out of his funk, which saw him writing several strange, paranoid letters to friends such as John Locke, and it seems the Warden position offered him a change of scenery, and perhaps a new challenge.

Chaloner strikes me as a fairly clever criminal, but to his downfall, not as clever as he thought. He set-up several counterfeiting operations of various sizes, always finding some way to escape, usually by knowing when to turn on his partners. He eventually schemes to get himself a position at the Mint, from which he could swipe whatever materials he required for his operations, and that seems to have been his mistake*. While making his claims that the Mint needed his knowledge to stop counterfeiting, he more or less implied that the current folks in charge of the Mint were either thieves, or idiots. Including Newton. Implying Issac Newton is a crooked fool is not a good idea, as that's the point when Newton seems to have turned his focus from any counterfeiters he could catch, to Chaloner in particular. It doesn't end well for Chaloner.

One other thing Levenson does well is ground the whole affair in the time it occurred in. He explains how the conflict between the William-led Brits, and Louis the XIV France placed pressure on the government to raise funds, how the difference in the price of gold in England versus the Continent helped fuel England's monetary crisis (largely through people clipping coins), and how some of Newton's ideas on how to solve the problem were too modern for the times**. he also provides a good overview of the British system of justice, and how it worked for and against both Newton and Chaloner. Chaloner, for example, has to provide his own defense, and is not warned as to what witnesses will be brought against him. Newton has to cope with the fact that people who provide information receive rewards, and so the juries tend to distrust their statements. Also, there's not much cooperation between groups, so the Mint and the Treasury can both be pursuing Chaloner, and neither knows what the other is up to.

OK, so that hasn't changed in over 300 years. I really enjoyed this book quite a bit, I learned several new things, and if you have any interest in Newton, 17th century England, true crime, any of that, I'd recommend it.

* What wasn't apparently a mistake was his sales pitch. He tried to demonstrate that he knew ways to render their coinage more impervious to counterfeiting, and brought coins he created as proof of how he could make coins he claimed couldn't be copied. Yes, he basically confessed he not only knew how to counterfeit, but had the equipment to do so, directly to the authorities. And none of them noticed anything unusual.

** Newton suggested making new money, which they did. He also suggested that instead of making a schilling piece out of however much silver cost a schilling, just make a piece that the government says is worth a schilling, but isn't necessarily a schilling's worth of silver. Kind of like today, where a $10 bill isn't worth $10 bucks in terms of what it's made out of, but it can still buy you ten bucks worth of stuff. People weren't ready for that idea in 1696 apparently.