Lectiones opticae & geometricae: in quibus phaenomenon opticorum genuinae rationes investigantur, ac exponuntur: et generalia curvarum linearum symptomata declarantur... by BARROW, ISAAC - 1674

London: William Godbid, 1674. 3rd Printing. 1/2 Vellum. Very Good. 1st Edition 3rd Issue. 4to (19.6 x 15.9 cm). 2 Volumes in one. Bound in later half vellum on early marble boards. Collation: Vol. 1 - vi, 127 + 15 folding engraved plates; Vol 2- viii, 151 + 14 (12 folding) engraved plates. Plate 13 is duplicated. There are 3 leaves preceding the second part that are misplaced and should be at the front of the first section after the title page. This rebound copy has original marble boards and later vellum. The title page is reduced along the fore edge by 1.1 cm not affecting printed area. Text and plates in very good condition with only occasional minor spotting and dusting. This is a complete copy despite the misplaced pages during rebinding.

This first edition of Barrow's lectures on geometry and optics were given at Cambridge where he was Lucasian professor of mathematics. Newton was one of his students and "is known to have helped in preparing Barrow's Lectiones XVIII (1669) and Lectiones geometricae (1670) for publication and even to have added one or two small improvements. As a mathematician Barrow is well-known as a pioneer in the development of calculus…Barrow also presented, although in geometrical form, the fundamental theorem of the calculus, in which integration and differentiation are shown to be inverse operations. His preference…for geometrical proofs over algebraic manipulations…could well have had some influence on the young Newton, who later expressed his own distaste for the new techniques introduced into mathematics by Descartes and his followers." (Gjertsen, p. 55). (Babson 249; Graesse I p. 299; Wallis 358.4; Wing B945)