Books

Illustrated with 12 folding engraved plates of optical/geometrical diagrams and a few woodcut diagrams and tables in text; large woodcut decorative tail-pieces, head-pieces and initials. 8vo. Contemporary full speckled calf; boards with double-fillet gilt-ruled borders; spine with five raised bands and gilt-lettered (faded) morocco label; edges speckled red. London: Printed for W. and J. Innys, printers to the Royal Society, 1718. Second English Edition revised and enlarged by Newton. First Octavo Edition. Second issue, with the title-page dated 1718 (the very rare first issue is dated 1717). The first edition appeared in 1704 in quarto. For this second edition the plates were newly engraved to fit the new octavo format. The most important feature of this second edition is that the number of Queries at the end was increased from 16 to 31, including the celebrated Query 28 on the nature of light. The Queries in the initial set were rather brief, but the later ones became more…

Isaac Newton's 'Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light' was originally published in Latin as 'Optice: sive, De Reflexionibus, Refractionibus, Inflexionibus et Coloribus Lucis, Libri Tres'. This work is Newton's study of the behavior of light and color, detailing his experiments with prisms and the color spectrum.