SMITH, ROBERT. - THE MAIN TEXTBOOK ON OPTICS IN THE 18TH CENTURY.

Vollständiger Lehrbegriff der Optik nach Herrn Robert Smiths Englischen mit Aenderungen und Zusätzen ausgearbeitet von Abraham Gotthelf Kästner.

Altenburg, Richterischen Buchhandlung, 1755. 4to. Contemp. boards. Handwritten titlelabel on spine. Engraved titlevignette. (20),531,(5) pp. and 22 folded engraved plates. A few scattered brownspots, but in general clean.

Scarce first German edition of this hugely influential textbook in optics.
"Smith wrote on optics and harmonics. In 1738 he published A Compleat System of Optics in Four Books, viz. A Popular, at Mathematical, a Mechanical, and a Philosophical Treatise. Both comprehensive and reliable, the work became probably the most influential optical textbook of the eighteenth century. It was also published in Dutch in 1753, in German in 1755, and in two different French translations in 1767, In 1778 an abridged version was published in English. In turn, its popularity helped to establish the eighteenth-century conviction that light is particulate." (DSB).

Order-nr.: 50315