Books

Desirable and scarce second English edition of Newton's "Opticks," Newton's "other" masterpiece dealing with light, second only to his masterwork on mechanics, the "Principia." Contemporary paneled calf binding in very sound condition (nicely re-backed with leather spine label). Purchased from the bookseller, Jeff Weber, who verifies that this book was the personal copy of the former definitive Newton scholar and biographer ["Never at Rest"], Richard Westfall. Light uniform toning (as typical for this book) and light foxing to the title page and the first few pages of the advertisement which follows.The multiple engraved plates are uniformly clean. Nice, sound copy, overall.

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.