Opticks: or a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. Also Two Treatises of the Species and Magnitude of Curvilinear Figures.

"one of the greatest works of science ever published"; First edition, first issue of Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks

Opticks: or a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. Also Two Treatises of the Species and Magnitude of Curvilinear Figures.

NEWTON, Sir Isaac.

Item Number: 100650

London: Printed for Sam. Smith, and Benj. Walford, 1704.

First edition, first issue of one of the greatest works of science ever published. Quarto, bound in full contemporary paneled English calf with five raised bands and red morocco spine label lettered in gilt to the spine, blindstamped ruling and cornerpieces to the panels, title page printed in red and black without mention of Newton in the imprint, nineteen folding engravings, rebacked. From the collection of Dr. Adrian Pollock. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Pollock was a leader in the field of non-destructive acoustic emission testing, an approach to emission testing which addresses dynamic processes in materials by listening to the energy released by objects. He amassed a large book collection covering the history of science which he acquired throughout his travels between the United States and United Kingdom and from international catalogs. Newton was a particular favorite of Pollock’s as the two scientists worked in the same field and shared an alma mater. In near fine condition with light toning to the text; easily one of the nicest examples extant and with noted provenance.

 

English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, author and physicist Sir Isaac Newton is widely considered one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution. In one of his most important works, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Newton formulated the the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until being superseded by the theory of relativity. "Newton's Opticks did for light what his Principia had done for gravitation, namely, placed it on a scientific basis." (Babson, p. 66) Considered one of the greatest works of science ever published, Newton's second major book, Opticks, analyzes the fundamental nature of light by means of the refraction of light with prisms and lenses, the diffraction of light by closely spaced sheets of glass, and the behavior of color mixtures with spectral lights or pigment powders.

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