Newton | Optice, Lausanne, 1740, marbled calf

Isaac Newton

Optice, sive de reflexionibus, refractionibus, inflexionibus et coloribus lucis, libri tres... Latine reddidit Samuel Clarke... editio novissima. Lausanne and Geneva: Marc-Michel Bousquet & co., 1740

4to (246 x 185mm.), half-title, title printed in red and black with engraved vignette, woodcut initials and headpieces, 12 folding engraved plates, contemporary mottled calf, red edges, small repair to foredge of title-page (from a library stamp?), first few quires slightly browned, a few plates with light staining, rebacked, extremities slightly rubbed

Samuel Clarke's Latin translation of Newton's treatise on optics, supervised by Abraham de Moivre (see lot 196), was first published in London in 1706, just two years after the first edition. Clarke (1675-1729), a chaplain to Queen Anne, was a devotee of Newton's philosophy but also produced translations of Caesar and Homer. This Lausanne reprint contains a preface by the publisher to Joannes Bernoulli, and is one of numerous scientific works printed by Bousquet at this time.

LITERATURE

Wallis 182