"Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687) was the last major work in England to be published in Latin, " says Ostler.

BBC: Pope resignation: Who speaks Latin these days?

As well as the Captain Scott letter, held at the Polar Museum, and Darwin's animal specimens at the Museum of Zoology, other items include Isaac Newton's own copy of Principia Mathematica, at Cambridge University Library.

BBC: Carol Ann Duffy