GRIMALDI, Francesco Maria.

Physico-Mathesis de Lumine, Coloribus, et Iride...

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Added title-page with a large engraved vignette & woodcut diagrams in the text. Both titles printed in red & black. 12 p.l. (6th leaf a blank), 535 pp., 8 leaves. Thickish 4to, cont. speckled sheep (printed title with a tiny hole in blank margin, following leaf with a 10 cm. tear carefully repaired, slight damage to gathering Aaa including two small holes with loss of about ten letters), spine gilt (ends of spine a little worn & repaired). Bologna: Heirs of V. Benati, 1665. First edition, and a very fine, large, and crisp copy, of the author’s only book; in it he describes the discovery of optical diffraction. This is perhaps the rarest of all great optical books, especially in such good condition, and it marks the first scientific attempt to establish a comprehensive wave theory of light. The diffraction experiments which Grimaldi describes here show “that a new mode of transmission of light had been discovered and that this mode contradicts the notion of an exclusively rectilinear passage of light. Diffraction thus gave prima facie evidence for a fluid nature of light. The name ‘diffraction’ comes from the loss of uniformity observed in the flow of a stream of water as it ‘splits apart’ around a slender obstacle placed in its path.”–D.S.B., V, p. 544. Grimaldi repeatedly states that colors are not something different from light but are modifications of light produced by the fine structure of the bodies which reflect it, and probably consisting of an alteration in the type of motion and in the velocity of the light. The different colors are produced when the eye is stimulated by light oscillations whose velocities differ. All these views were of fundamental importance for the subsequent development of optics. Newton was aware of Grimaldi’s work, though only secondhand. The Englishman’s great contribution to the knowledge of diffraction is his set of careful measurements which made clear the periodic nature of the phenomenon. Fine and fresh copy. Early stamp of D.S.A (or, more likely, D.A.S.) on blank portion of printed title. Stamp well-removed from blank portion of final leaf. ❧ Albert, Norton, & Hurtes, Source Book of Ophthalmology, 919–contains “Grimaldi’s work on the discovery of the diffraction (Newton’s inflexion) of light...considered a classic in the history of optics, this work make the first scientific attempt to establish the wave theory.” Kemp, The Science of Art, p. 285.

• USD 55,000.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: HillBibl-1241

• bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (USA)