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Lot 170

Sale 945 - Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana
Lots 1-307
Nov 9, 2021 4:00AM CT
Lots 308-687
Nov 10, 2021 4:00AM CT
Live / Chicago
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Estimate
$1,000 - 1,500
Price Realized
$875
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium

Lot Description

SMITH, Robert (1689-1768). A Compleat System of Opticks, in Four Books. Cambridge: for the Author, 1738. 


2 volumes, 4to (290 x 225 mm). 83 engraved folding plates. (Some spotting or browning, primarily to plates, V1-4 on slightly shorter leaves.) 20th-century quarter calf antique, edges stained red. 

FIRST EDITION, with sections on light, color, the theory of vision, the production of optical and perspective instruments including telescopes and microscopes, and astronomical discoveries. Smith's work was influential in establishing the corpuscular theory of light as the dominant theory in the 18th-century. As Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Smith was influential in establishing Newtonian science at Cambridge. Houzeau-Lancaster 3323.


Selections from the Property of Dr. Eugene Vigil, Antiquariat Botanicum

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