Gregory, David | Catoptricae et dioptricae sphaericae elementa, Oxford, 1695, first edition, contemporary paneled calf

Gregory, David

Catoptricae et dioptricae sphaericae elementa. Oxford: at the Sheldonian Theatre, 1695

First edition of Gregory’s influential treatise on catoptrics and dioptrics—the reflection and refraction of light by spherical mirrors and lenses.

The work was developed from lectures first delivered at Edinburgh in 1684 and deliberately adapted for undergraduate instruction. Gregory presents the principles of geometrical optics in a systematic and accessible form, treating the formation of images and the properties of mirrors, lenses, and telescopes. In its concluding pages he makes an important early suggestion that chromatic aberration might be corrected by combining refracting media of different densities, thereby anticipating the principle of the achromatic telescope.

Gregory held the chair of mathematics at Edinburgh before becoming Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford in 1691. An early and influential exponent of Newtonian science, he was also responsible for the great Oxford edition of Euclid published in Greek and Latin in 1703.

8vo (217 x 132 mm). Title-page with engraved illustration of the Sheldonian Theatre, woodcut diagrams; some foxing. Contemporary paneled calf; worn.

REFERENCES

USTC 3130334; ESTC R16816; Taylor, Tudor & Stuart 426; Wing G1883; Carter, OUP, p. 425

PROVENANCE

Robert S. Dunham (acquired from Dawson in 1959; Sotheby’s New York, 11 December 1993, lot 693 [part]).