Enlarged second edition of Kircher's 1646 treatise on light, optical phenomena, and diverse related topics, including early descriptions of the camera obscura, magic lantern, bioluminescence and phosphorescence, and discussions of sundials, flying machines, and astronomical observations via telescope. Becker 217; Merrill 7; Norman 1216 (all citing the original edition); Caillet 5770; Dünnhaupt (Kircher) 7.2; Liebmann & Wahl 937 (this edition); DSB VII, 375; Frizot, A New History of Photography, pages 17-18; Harvey, A History of Luminescence, pages 103-06 and 312-13.
provenance: (1) Girolamo Tuschi, early stamp on title ("ex libris Hieronymi Tuschi Archidiaconi Regiensis"); (2) the scientist Enoch Karrer Sr. (1887-1946), bookplate; (3) Aurora Karrer, tipped-in note presenting this book to (4) the psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), his signature dated Orgonon, 12 September 1955, on loose front free endpaper. Aurora Karrer was a biologist at the National Institutes of Health with whom Reich was romantically involved during the last 2 years of his life; she is described in some accounts as his fourth wife, though the 2 were not formally married. See Sharaf, Fury on Earth, pages 442 et seq.