A Compleat System of Opticks

Cambridge: Printed for The Author, and sold there by Cornelius Crownfield. 1738.

First edition. Two volumes. 252x194mm. pp. [6], vi, [8], 280; [2], 281-455, [1bl], 171, [13]. With the final errata, advertisement and instructions to the binder leaves and a total of 83 folding engraved plates. Contemporary calf, five raised bands, compartments lavishly decorated in gilt, morocco label lettered in gilt. Front pastedowns have the bookplates of Belton House and of The Right Hon John Lord Brownlowe whose seat Belton was. Rubbing and some wear to extremities, corners bumped. Head and foot of spines bumped and torn. Slight cracking to the joint of the upper cover of volume one but otherwise a very good copy and, although there is a little foxing, excellent internally.
The ODNB's observation that "Newton's successes in optics and mechanics dominated Smith's scientific career" suggests a career in the shadows. But Smith's (1690-1768) Opticks, through its translations into French and German, helped disseminate Newton's work on the continent and there is much that is of enduring originality in Smith's Opticks, particularly in his extensive discussions of lenses, "later would-be telescope makers took Smith's Opticks as their operating Bible" (lindahall.org).