The inspiration for Newton's work on light and colours

FABRI, Honoré.

Synopsis optica, in qua illa omnia quae ad opticam, dioptricam, catoptricam pertinent, id est, ad triplicem radium visualem directum, refractum, reflexum breviter quidem, accurate tamen demonstrantur.

Lyon: Horace Boissat & Georges Remeus, 1667.

1st Edition. Hardcover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Very Good. Item #002881

4to (223 x 159 mm). [8], 246 pp., including 6 folding engraved plates bound at end, woodcut vignette on title, woodcut tailpieces. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with 4 raised bands gilt in compartments and with gilt lettering piece, sprinkled edges (light soiling of boards, minor repair to hinges and spine ends, corners bumped). Text little browned throughout, scattered minor spotting, erased cancelled signature at top margin of title-page, dampstain to rear pastedown. Still very good copy. ----

Sommervogel III: 515 ; Vagnetti EIII b58; Wellcome III, p.3. FIRST EDITION of Fabri's influential work on optics, the inspiration for Newton's work on light and color. It was through this work that Newton learned of the discovery of diffraction of light by Francesco Maria Grimaldi. Fabri also describes the rings of Saturn (he was involved in a long dispute with Huygens over their interpretation), difficulties of telescopic observations, and the construction of compound microscopes. He presents a theory of the blueness of the sky based on the principle of dispersion. There is also a careful exposition of theories of vision and the mechanics of the eye. Fabri was educated at the Collège de la Trinité in Lyon, and became a Jesuit priest. After teaching at the college for several years, he moved to Rome, where he held the position of Theologian of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary for thirty years. Some of his works were considered controversial within the church, but his standing as a scientist places him squarely among some of the greatest minds of his time.

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