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SMITH, ROBERT. Cours Complet d'Optique. French translation and additions by Esprit Pezenas, S. J. 73 folding engraved plates. [6], [iii]-xxviii, 472; [2], 536, [2] pages, including errata leaf at end. 2 volumes. 4to, 255x209 mm, contemporary mottled calf gilt, spine ends chipped, joints partly cracked, cords intact, cover edges and corners worn through; scattered minor foxing, occasional light offsetting from plates. Avignon & Paris, 1767
first edition of one of two French translations published the same year of Smith's 1738 Complete System of Opticks, "the standard eighteenth century text on the physics of light, grinding and polishing lenses, the construction of optical instruments, and the history of telescopic discoveries" (Becker). This version contains supplementary matter by the translator, a noted Jesuit mathematician and astronomer (1692-1776). "Pezenas played a major role in the diffusion in France of important works by English scientists, especially in mathematics and optics" (DSB). Babson 161; Becker 345 (both citing the original edition); DSB XII, 477-78, and X, 571-72.
