SMITH Robert Cours complet d’Optique… contenant la théorie, la pratique et les usages de cette science.

DSB, XII, p. 477 ; DiLaura, no. 485 ; see Becker Collection, 216 (for the first edition London 1738) ; Wolf, History of Science, II, p. 171. 

First edition in French, translated by Pézénas. The classes on optics by Smith, based on Newton’s Optics make this “probably the most influential optical text book of the eighteenth century… In turn, its popularity helped to establish the eighteenth-century conviction that light is particulate” (DSB).

“His Compleat System of Opticks exerted much influence, and was translated into French and German.Of the four books [for the first editionpour l’édition originale] the first deals in a non-technical manner with the fundamental experiments in optics, while the second provides a more formal treatment of the geometrical theory of the subject. Smith studied the problem of spherical aberrations in greater generality than his predecessors, Barrow and Huygens. The third book describes apparatus fro grinding and polishing lenses and specula, and it gives a complete account of the construction, adjustment, and use of the principal optical instruments, while the fourth book gives a history of telescopic discoveries in the heavens” (Wolf).

Pézenas added more recent discoveries in his translatoin.

“At the end of the second volume, Pézenas added considerable material that described developments in optics made since Smith’s original was published. Two French translations of Smith’s work appeared in 1767 : Esprit Pézenas’ being more concerned with the theoretical aspects while Duval-le-Roy’s has a heavy emphasis on the practical, lens, and instrument aspects” (DiLaura).

Nice copy.

Bookplate de Bocte.