Books

London: Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, Printers to the Royal Society, at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1704. First Edition. Very Good. First edition, first issue of this foundational work in the field of optics, in which Isaac Newton explores the nature of light and color, presenting his experiments and theories on how light behaves. Title printed in red and black, within a double-rule border and without author's name. Bound in contemporary paneled calf boards sympathetically rebacked; with 19 engraved folding plates. Very Good. Soiling to textblock and endsheets, bookplate of Irish naturalist John Vandeleur Stewart affixed to the front pastedown, ownership signature to title page. Amateur repair to gutter at title page. Numerous pencil notations throughout, though mostly confined to the margins or blank areas. Plate 5 is torn at the fold, plate 6 with corner loss affecting the image, several shaved. Second book with page 120 misnumbered as 112. A lovely…

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.

First editions are identified by their printing date before or during 1704 and published by Smith and Walford.