$36,000
Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727) Opticks: or a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light . London: Smith and Walford, 1704. First edition, first issue, without Newton's name on the title, quarto, two parts in one volume, title printed in red and black, with nineteen folding engraved plates, pages very clean throughout; in contemporary English blind-tooled, speckled, paneled binding, gold tooled spine, beautifully restored, with original spine and label relaid, by J. MacDonald Company of Norwalk, Connecticut, with their stamp inside the front board, one plate with a tear carefully mended from the verso. Newton examines all aspects of optics in this important contribution to the discipline. He advances the corpuscular theory of light for the first time. The work itself was written in the 1670s, and Newton showed the manuscript to microscope pioneer and fellow Royal Society member Robert Hooke, whose criticisms were so withering that Newton elected to stall publication until after Hooke's demise. The endleaves are contemporary, not modern. A thin strip of matching paper has been applied expertly in the inner gutters, front and back. This detail of the restoration is only visible upon careful examination. The text leaves measure 242 x 186 mm.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2012-11-18
