Optics.- Porta (Giambattista della) De Refractione Optices Parte. Libri novem, first edition,...
Optics.- Porta (Giambattista della) De Refractione Optices Parte. Libri novem, first edition, woodcut device on title, woodcut headpieces, initials and diagrams, with the inserted dedication leaf and conjugate blank, several small holes in blank areas of title, small hole in 10 leaves with loss of a few letters in 3 leaves, some foxing and browning, two early signatures on title deleted, later vellum-backed boards, spine lettered in manuscript, a little rubbed, [Adams P1929; DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 45; Osler 3720], 4to (200 x 137mm.), Naples, Apud Jo. Jacobum Carlinum, & Antonium Pacem, 1593.
*** Porta (1535-1615) "did not invent the camera obscura, but he is the first to report adding a concave lens to the aperture. He also juxtaposed concave and convex lenses and reports various experiments with them...His comparison of the lens in the camera obscura to the pupil in the human eye did provide an easily understandable demonstration that the source of visual images lay outside the eye as well as outside the darkened room."
The leaf of dedication to Octavio Pisani, inserted between the title and A2, is not found in all copies.
Provenance: David L. DiLaura with his Bibliotheca Opticoria bookplate; R.S. Creed (ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper).
Optics.- Porta (Giambattista della) De Refractione Optices Parte. Libri novem, first edition, woodcut device on title, woodcut headpieces, initials and diagrams, with the inserted dedication leaf and conjugate blank, several small holes in blank areas of title, small hole in 10 leaves with loss of a few letters in 3 leaves, some foxing and browning, two early signatures on title deleted, later vellum-backed boards, spine lettered in manuscript, a little rubbed, [Adams P1929; DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticoria, 45; Osler 3720], 4to (200 x 137mm.), Naples, Apud Jo. Jacobum Carlinum, & Antonium Pacem, 1593.
*** Porta (1535-1615) "did not invent the camera obscura, but he is the first to report adding a concave lens to the aperture. He also juxtaposed concave and convex lenses and reports various experiments with them...His comparison of the lens in the camera obscura to the pupil in the human eye did provide an easily understandable demonstration that the source of visual images lay outside the eye as well as outside the darkened room."
The leaf of dedication to Octavio Pisani, inserted between the title and A2, is not found in all copies.
Provenance: David L. DiLaura with his Bibliotheca Opticoria bookplate; R.S. Creed (ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper).
