Digitized copies of rare, public domain optics books can now be ordered online from www.kirtas.com/ora.

The Rolland-Thompson Collection of Antiquarian Books in Early Optics and Related Sciences is available for sale online from Kirtas Technologies. The collection is composed of rare, out-of-print books in optics and optical design from the personal collection of Dr. Kevin P. Thompson, group director of R& D at Synopsys’ Optical Solution Group, formerly Optical Research Associates, and Dr. Jannick Rolland, professor of optical engineering at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics. This is a not-for-profit venture with all of its proceeds going to continued efforts to preserve rare optics texts and make them available to the public.

Among the over 150 titles in the Rolland-Thompson collection are Henry Coddington’s Treatise on the Reflexion and Refraction of Light (1829) and George Biddell Airy’s Undulatory Theory of Light (1848). The collection represents a broad set of contributions to the historically significant field of optical instrument design. All of the books are no longer in print, and are in the public domain.

The partnership with Kirtas Technologies now makes these books available for sale as digital downloads or high-quality bound reprints on www.kirtasbooks.com/ora.

Original copies of the collection were donated by Rolland and Thompson to the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences for optics research and education.