SMITH, Robert (1689-1768). A Compleat System of Opticks, in Four Books. Cambridge: for the Author, 1738.  

2 volumes, 4to (290 x 225 mm). 83 engraved folding plates. (Some spotting or browning, primarily to plates, V1-4 on slightly shorter leaves.) 20th-century quarter calf antique, edges stained red.  

FIRST EDITION, with sections on light, color, the theory of vision, the production of optical and perspective instruments including telescopes and microscopes, and astronomical discoveries. Smith's work was influential in establishing the corpuscular theory of light as the dominant theory in the 18th-century. As Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Smith was influential in establishing Newtonian science at Cambridge. Houzeau-Lancaster 3323.


Selections from the Property of Dr. Eugene Vigil, Antiquariat Botanicum

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