Historical information

This 300 year old book deals with the theory of light and colour and with investigations of the colours of thin sheets, 'Newton's rings', and diffraction of light. Newton uses a wave theory of light and his corpuscular theory to explain his observations. Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was a great figure in the history of optical science. His classic 'Opticks' was first published in English in 1704. This Latin edition of 1706 was published to satisfy a wider scientific audience in Europe. Newton was Lucasian Professor at Cambridge 1669-1693 and a fellow of Trinity College. He achieved fame as a creative mathematician and for his law of universal gravitation which explains planetary motions. He retired from research in 1693 to become a government official in London.

Significance

This book is highly significant as a milestone in the study of optics. Although not a very rare book, only one other copy is listed by WorldCat in an Australian institution.

Physical description

Latin edition of Newton's 'Optics' translated by Samuel Clarke. This copy is bound in full calf leather of the period, 348 pages, with fold-out figures plus a 24 page appendix 'Enumeratio linearum tertii ordinis' and a 43 page appendix 'Tractus de quadratura curvarum'. It is in outstandingly good condition.

Inscriptions & markings

Inscribed on the fly leaf in pencil is that this is the 2nd edition, the first in Latin, and that Newton gave Clarke 500 pounds for the translation.