NEWTON, Isaac. Optice: sive de Reflexionibus, Refractionibus, Inflexionibus et Coloribus Lucis, libri tres. Latine reddidit Samuel Clarke . . . Editio novissima.Lausannae & Geneva, Marci-Michaelis Bousquet & Sociorum, 17404to, 255x200 mm. Legatura coeva piena pergamena, titolo in oro sui dorsi, tagli marmorizzati. Pagine 6, Occhietto, Ritratto e Frontespizio, XXXII, 363, [1]. Vignetta allegorica incisa in rame al Frontespizio, 12 tavole incise in rame fuori testo, Testatine, Finalini e Iniziali ornate e figurate. Alcune pagine brunite, bell’esemplare. Importante edizione figurata che contiene la serie completa dei 31 quesiti sull’Ottica. Qui Newton propone la sua teoria corpuscolare e illustra i suoi esperimenti sulla dispersione ottica di un raggio di luce bianca che attraversa un prisma di vetro e si scompone nei vari colori. Aalizza anche quelli che oggi sono detti anelli di Newton (descritti anche da Robert Hooke nella sua Micrographia del 1664) e conclude che gli aloni colorati che si vedevano nei telescopi di allora fossero dovuti alla rifrazione della luce bianca (fenomeno chiamato aberrazione cromatica). Shapiro: “Newton's contributions to the science of optics: his discovery of the unequal refractions of rays of different color, his theory of color, and his investigations of 'Newton's rings,' to mention only a few of the most noteworthy :: place him among the premier contributors to that science. . . . Today we recognize that his work on optics offers unique rewards in its exciting, innovative conjunction of physical theory, experimental investigation, and mathematics, and in the revealing glimpse that it provides of a crucial period in the evolution of experimental science.”Newton's Cosmological Queries: “Of all these, one of the most intriguing is Query 28, which begins with the rhetorical question "Are not all Hypotheses erroneous in which Light is supposed to consist of Pression or Motion propagated through a fluid medium?" In this query Newton rejects the Cartesian idea of a material substance filling in and comprising the space between particles. Newton preferred an atomistic view, believing that all substances were comprised of hard impenetrable particles moving and interacting via innate forces in an empty space (as described further in Query 31).” George J. Gray, A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton, 182; Wallis 182; Newton's Cosmological Queries: MathPages. / Grace K. Babson, Sir Isaac Newton, (1950), 141; Alan E. Shapiro, The Optical Papers of Isaac Newton: Volume 1, (1984), p. xi; Printing and the Mind of Man, 172.

4to, 255x200 mm. Contemporary full vellum, gilt title on spine, marbled edges. Page, 2, Half-title, Engraved Portrait, Title page, XXXII, 363, [1]. Title vignette of 4 cherubs and a female figure, each using an optical instrument, representing learning optics/perspective (drawn by Delamoncein and engraved by Daudet), head & tail pieces and woodcut initial letters. Some burnished pages, good copy.
Important illustrated edition that contains the full array of 31 queries on Optics. Here Newton proposes his corpuscular theory and illustrates his experiments on the optical dispersion of a ray of white light that passes through a glass prism and breaks down into the various colors. He also analyzes what today are called Newton's rings (also described by Robert Hooke in his Micrographia of 1664) and concludes that the colored halos that were seen in the telescopes of the time were due to the refraction of white light (a phenomenon called chromatic aberration). Shapiro: “Newton's contributions to the science of optics: his discovery of the unequal refractions of rays of different color, his theory of color, and his investigations of 'Newton's rings,' to mention only a few of the most noteworthy: place him among the premier contributors to that science. . . . Today we recognize that his work on optics offers unique rewards in its exciting, innovative conjunction of physical theory, experimental investigation, and mathematics, and in the revealing glimpse that it provides of a crucial period in the evolution of experimental science.”Newton's Cosmological Queries: “Of all these, one of the most intriguing is Query 28, which begins with the rhetorical question "Are not all Hypotheses erroneous in which Light is supposed to consist of Pression or Motion propagated through a fluid medium?" In this query Newton rejects the Cartesian idea of a material substance filling in and comprising the space between particles. Newton preferred an atomistic view, believing that all substances were comprised of hard impenetrable particles moving and interacting via innate forces in an empty space (as described further in Query 31).”