La Perspective Curieuse ou Magie Artificiele des effets Merveilleux: de l'optique, par la vision directe, la catoptrique, par la reflexion des miroirs plats,. . . by NICERON, Jean Francois (1613-1646) - 1638

Paris:: Chez Pierre Billaine, 1638., 1638. 6to. [xxiv], 120, [2] pp. Engraved frontis. (by Pierre Daret), 25 engraved copper plates (1 double-page). Original full blind-stamped calf, spine with gilt rules and title; spine neatly replaced, extremities rubbed. Bookplates of Newbattle Abbey Library, [First] Earl of Ancram [Sir Robert Kerr (c. 1578–1654)] and the Honorable William Marquiss of Lothian (General William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian, 1737-1815). Fine. ANAMORPHOSES AND THE THEORY OF PERSPECTIVE. First edition, with a fine provenance, of Niceron's important treatise on perspective, geometrical optics, and anamorphic projection, which gains added significance in the history of science for containing (in Book IV) "perhaps the first published reference to Descartes' derivation of the law of refraction (1638) and thus gains some historical significance" -- DSB. / The work is famous for its study of the application of illusion to optical science: "The classic phase of anamorphosis, during which it came to relate vitally to a series of scientific and theological concerns, occurred in France and Rome in the 1630s and 1640s. The theorist at the centre of the Paris-Rome developments was Jean-Francois Niceron" -- Kemp. / "This richly illustrated manual on perspective revealed for the first time the secrets of anamorphosis and trompe l'oeil. It contained the first published reference to Descartes's derivation of the law of refraction. First published in 1638 with 25 plates only, Niceron's work was later enlarged by Roberval in a far inferior edition (1663). Divided into four Books, the first Book presents briefly the fundamental geometrical theorems, and then develops a general method of perspective, borrowing heavily from Alberti and Durer." – go_geometry. / Jean-Francois Niceron (1613-1646), born in Paris, was a French mathematician, Minim [Catholic] friar, and painter of anamorphic art, on which he wrote the ground-breaking book, "La Perspective Curieuse." He travelled widely throughout Europe and was and awarded a professorship in Rome. / Provenance: Sir Robert Kerr (c. 1578–1654) was a Scottish nobleman. His son Charles inherited the title, though ultimately the title merged with that of Lothian, thus the second bookplate. / REFERENCES: Martin Kemp, The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat, Yale University Press, 1992; Vagnetti, 391-393; DSB X, p. 103; Berlin Katalog 4713. See: Christie's sale 3534. / See: Ivan Moscovich, The Magic Cylinder Book, Tarquin Publications; Martin Gardner, "Anamorphic art", Scientific American, vol. 232, no 1, pp. 110-116, January 1975; Richard Gregory, Mirrors in Mind, W.H. Freeman, New York, 1996; Jonathan Miller, On Reflection, National Gallery Publications, London, 1998; Ernst Gombrich, Art and Illusion, Phaidon Press, Oxford, 1977. FULL TITLE: La Perspective Curieuse ou Magie Artificiele des effets Merveilleux: de l'optique, par la vision directe, la catoptrique, par la reflexion des miroirs plats, cylindriques & coniques, la dioptrique, par la refraction des crystaux . . . Oeuvre tres-utile aux peintres, architectes, graveurs, sculpteurs. . .