La dioptrique oculaire, ou La théorique, la positive, et la méchanique, de l'oculaire dioptrique en toutes ses espèces.

In-folio (37 x 23 cm); contemporary smooth vellum, manuscript title on spine. Frontispiece, engraved title with vignette, [44] pp, 419 pp, [30] pp. table. A map of the moon with later handwritten annotations in red ink. Some minor spotting, small tear at the fold on p. 276, one spine slightly split.

First edition of this important treatise on optics divided into three parts, by Father Cherubin of Orleans. The work is decorated with a beautiful frontispiece engraved by Edelinck after Le Pautre, a large vignette engraved by Edelinck at the dedication, 57 plates, 6 of which are folding, and 2 figures in the text, engraved by L. Cossinus after the author, representing various optical instruments, microscopes, telescopes, astronomical observations, geometrical diagrams and two maps of the Moon. Numerous initials and endpapers. Michel Lassere (1613-1697), better known as Father Cherubin of Orleans, was interested in the manufacture of optical instruments. He is the inventor of the binocular telescope. Author of several works, La dioptrique oculaire is his first. Between 1670 and 1682, Father Chérubin presented his discoveries to the Academy of Sciences and to the court of King Louis XIV. Graesse II, 130