NEWTON, Isaac

Optice

      NEWTON, Isaac (1642-1727) Optice: sive de reflexionibus, refractionibus, inflexionibus & coloribus lucis, libri tres. . . latine reddidit Samuel Clarke, S.T.P. Editio secunda, auctior. London: [colophon:] ex officina Gulielmi Bowyer typographi, kalend. Septemb. MDCCXVIII; [title:] impensis Gul. & Joh. Innys, 1719. Collation: 4to: (4 a4 B-3G4 ((1 bound after a4), 216 leaves, pp. [4] xi [1] 415 [1]. Prince of Wales feathers device on title, wood- or metal-cut initials and decorations in the text, woodcut diagrams on pp. 268 and 357. Plates: 19 engraved plates: numbered Lib. I Par. I Tab I-V, Lib. I. Par. I Tab. I-IV, Lib. II Tab. I-II, Lib. III Tab. I. (bound as throwouts on full aprons at the end). Condition: 218 x 168mm. Title a little dustsoiled, light dampstaining in blank outer margins of last 2 gatherings and into the engraved surface of the plates. Binding: Contemporary vellum boards, blue painted edges, plain endpapers, unlettered spine. A little worn and soiled, hinges strengthened, rear pastedown replaced. References: ESTC t93215; Wallis 181; Babson supplement p. 25. Second Latin edition, large paper issue translated by Abraham de Moivre (first edition 1704, translated into Latin with additions, 1706; this edition revised according to the second English edition, 1717). Bowyer printed 250 large paper copies in quarto and 750 copies in octavo (Babson supplement p. 25; both are signed as quartos and the setting seems to be unchanged). The second and definitive Latin edition, handsomely printed by William Bowyer (with colophon dated 1718), seen to good advantage in the now rare large paper copies. Following the second English edition (1717) the mathematical tracts are omitted and queries 25 to 31 are added, as explained in Newton's 'Monitio' dated 6 July 1717. The first edition contained sixteen queries, a further seven were added to the first Latin edition of 1706, and the final 8 to the second English edition of 1717. Though there were two further English editions in Newton's lifetime, with minor revisions but not significant editions, this was the last Latin edition on which the later continental editions were based. There are two advertisements, one in the prelims (?1) listing recent books published by William and John Innys, including the English edition of the Opticks, other works by Newton and the Philosophical transactions; the other, on the last leaf, works which they had for sale. This is particularly interesting as it shows that a number of now quite famous seventeenth-century books were still available new in 1719. These include Hooke's Posthumous works (1705), Wallis's Treatise of algebra (1685), and Horrocks Opera posthuma (1673, 1678). At the request of Newton, Dr. Samuel Clarke (Newton's disciple and Rector of St. James's, Westminster, whose alleged Arianism gave rise to so long a controversy) prepared a Latin edition of his Opticks, which appeared in 1706, and he was generously presented by Sir Isaac with £500. or £100 for each of his five children, as a token of the approbation and gratitude of the author. Demoivre is said to have secured and taken charge of this translation, and to have spared neither time nor trouble in the task. Newton met him every evening at a coffee-house, and when they had finished their work, he took Demoivre home with him to spend the evening in philosophical conversation. Both the English and the Latin editions have been frequently reprinted, both in England and on the Continent, and perhaps there never was a work of profound science more widely circulated. David Brewster Memoirs, 2nd ed. 1860, II, p. 217.