Euclid Byrne Oliver (8 results)

LeatherBound. Condition: New. LeatherBound edition. Condition: New. Reprinted from 1847 edition. Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. Bound in genuine leather with Satin ribbon page markers and Spine with raised gilt bands. A perfect gift for your loved ones. NO changes have been made to the original text. This is NOT a retyped or an ocr'd reprint. Illustrations, Index, if any, are included in black and white. Each page is checked manually before printing. As this print on demand book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages, but we always try to make the book as complete as possible. Fold-outs, if any, are not part of the book. If the original book was published in multiple volumes then this reprint is of only one volume, not the whole set. Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Pages: 311 Language: English.

Paperback. Condition: New.

2 VOL SET IN CLAMSHELL BOX, imperial octavo, black cloth illus boards & black illus light card covers to essay, yellow & blue lettering to spine, xxix + 268pp & 95pp essay vol, illus/diagrams, Near FINE (sl foxing to title pages) in illus black cloth clamshell case, VG+ (sl chafing & soiling).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Book is in very good condition. 268pp of colour illustrations and 96pp of text and illustrations.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 4to (236 x 186 mm). [7] viii-xxix [1], 268 pp. Including half-title, four-line woodcut initials, color diagrams throughout printed in red, blue, yellow and black. Contemporary three-quarter calf over cloth, spine-ends and raised bands with gilt-decoration, gilt-lettered red morocco spine-label, original blue endpapers (extremities rubbed, corners bumped). Some pale brown spotting of text as usual*, minor age-toning of paper, but in all a better-than-average, crisp and clean copy. ---- FIRST AND ONLY EDITION OF BYRNE'S SPECTACULAR RENDERING OF EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY USING FOUR-COLOR PRINTING, AND "THE MOST ATTRACTIVE EDITION OF EUCLID THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN" (Oechslin). The stark use of primary colors was envisaged by Byrne as a teaching aid. "Each proposition is set in Caslon italic, with a four line initial engraved on wood by Mary Byfield: the rest of the page is a unique riot of red, yellow and blue . . . attaining a verve not seen again on book pages till the days of Dufy, Matisse and Derain" (McLean). "This truly visual Euclid discards the letter-coding native to geometry texts. In a proof, each element names itself by consistent shape, color, and orientation; instead of talking about angle DEF, the angle is shown - appropriately enough for geometry" (Tufte). Byrne's depiction of Pythagoras is a classic, with the squares being visually interpreted so in vivid blocks of colour. In a technical tour-de-force, Whittingham skillfully aligned the different color blocks for printing to produce "One of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century" (McLean). "According to Julie L. Mellby, graphic arts librarian at Princeton University, in her online article "Euclid in Color," Byrne's Euclid was exhibited in London at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Praise was given for its beauty and the artistry of the printing, which may have influenced future publications and artwork. However, the book was sold for an extravagant price by contemporary standards, placing it out of the reach of educators who were supposed to make use of this new way of teaching geometry." *Virtually all copies of this print show more or less heavy brown spotting (or foxing) due to the used paper stock, but this copy is less affected than most copies we have seen. References: Janet Ing, Charles Whittingham, Printer, 46; Keynes, Pickering, pp. 37, 65; R. McLean, Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing p. 50-51 (illustration facing p. 53); E. R. Tufte, Envisioning Information, p.84; P. Lynch, That's Maths: The rebel who brought Technicolour to Euclid, Irish Times, February 20, 2014; W. Oechslin, ed., Oliver Byrne: The Elements of Euclid (Cologne, Germany: Taschen America LLC, 2013), p.15; J. L. Mellby, Euclid in Color, Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey, 2008. - Visit our website to see more images!.

EUCLID. The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid, in which Coloured Diagrams and Symbols are used instead of Letters for the Greater Ease of Learners. By Oliver Byrne. xxix, [1], 268 pp., illustrated throughout with colour-printed diagrams. Small 4to, 237 x 188 mm., bound in original publisher's drab cloth, edges untrimmed, in a new half morocco protective box. London: [Charles Whittingham for] William Pickering, 1847. First and only edition of Byrne's Euclid, surely one of the most remarkable Victorian books. These Mondrian-like designs of bold, primary colours are printed in faultless register, and the striking composition on the page is unique in bookmaking. Ruari McLean describes it as "one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century." Both McLean and Joan Friedman agree that it is Whittingham's "triumph." In describing the complicated printing processes, Friedman writes: "Although the areas of colour were all flat tones without any subtleties, it was absolutely necessary that register -- the proper positioning of the blocks for successive printings -- be perfect, so that the angles and lines meet each other at the proper places. Whittingham achieved this and at the same time designed a page of great elegance and balance." Oliver Byrne devised this edition of Euclid as a completely new system for learning geometry. He determined that by using colours (instead of letters) to indicate angles and lines for the various geometric figures, a student could comprehend Euclid's theories in less than a third of the time. This copy is bound in the plain remainder binding, which followed copies in both blue and red cloth. Foxing throughout, as is true in all copies; nevertheless an excellent unwashed, and fresh copy. PROVENANCE: From the library of Sir Robert Peel, with his bookplate. Friedman 43. McLean 70. Keyes, Pickering 53.

First edition of "one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century" (McLean). The use of colour is its most iconic feature, with equal angles, lines, or polygonal regions assigned one of the three primary colours. It is rare in both the original cloth (as here) and in the original wrappers. Byrne (18101880) was a self-educated Irish mathematician and engineer who "considered that it might be easier to learn geometry if colours were substituted for the letters usually used to designate the angles and lines of geometric figures. Instead of referring to, say, 'angle ABC', Byrne's text substitued a blue or yellow or red section equivalent to similarly coloured sections in the theorem's main diagram" (Friedman). His style remarkably prefigures the modernist experiments of the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements. Exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London 1851, the book was praised for the beauty and artistry of the printing. However, the selling price of 25 shillings was almost five times the typical price for a Euclidean textbook of the time, placing it out of reach of educators who might make use of this new way of teaching geometry. The technical difficulty of keeping the coloured shapes in register greatly increased production costs, and it was therefore never a viable book for cheap mass-production, preventing Byrne's method from becoming widespread or effecting any major change in the teaching of geometry. Even so, its beauty and innovation ensure it remains among the most desirable of illustrated books from the Victorian period. Friedman, Color Printing in England 43; Keynes, Pickering, pp. 37, 65; McLean, Victorian Book Design, p. 70. Susan M. Hawes & Sid Kolpas, "Oliver Byrne: The Matisse of Mathematics", Convergence (Mathematical Association of America), Aug. 2015. Quarto. Original red straight-grain cloth, expertly rebacked preserving the original gilt-blocked spine, covers with ornamental blind panelling, front with gilt tooling, pale yellow endpapers, gilt edges. Geometric diagrams printed in red, yellow, and blue; printed in Caslon old-face type with ornamental initials by C. Whittingham of Chiswick. Bookseller's blindstamp (G. W. Holdich, Hull) to front free endpaper. Extremities gently rubbed, spine darkened, corners and inner hinges professionally restored, foxing and offsetting to contents as usual, the diagrams sharp and bright. A very good copy.

First edition of "one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century" (McLean). The use of colour is its most iconic feature, with equal angles, lines, or polygonal regions assigned one of the three primary colours. It is rare in both the original wrappers (as here) and in the original cloth. Byrne (1810-1880) was a self-educated Irish mathematician and engineer who "considered that it might be easier to learn geometry if colours were substituted for the letters usually used to designate the angles and lines of geometric figures. Instead of referring to, say, 'angle ABC', Byrne's text substitued a blue or yellow or red section equivalent to similarly coloured sections in the theorem's main diagram" (Friedman). His style prefigures the modernist experiments of the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements. Exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London 1851, the book was praised for the beauty and artistry of the printing. However, the selling price of 25 shillings was almost five times the typical price for a Euclidean textbook of the time, placing it out of the reach of educators who were supposed to make use of this new way of teaching geometry. The technical difficulty of keeping the coloured shapes in register greatly increased production costs, and it was consequently never a viable book for cheap mass-production, effectively preventing Byrne's method from becoming widespread or effecting any major change in the teaching of geometry. Even so, its beauty and innovation ensure it remains among the most desirable of illustrated books from the Victorian period. Friedman, Color Printing in England 43; Keynes, Pickering, pp. 37 & 65; McLean, Victorian Book Design, p. 70. Susan M. Hawes & Sid Kolpas, "Oliver Byrne: The Matisse of Mathematics", Convergence (Mathematical Association of America), Aug. 2015, available online. Quarto (240 x 192 mm). Original buff wrappers, printed paper label on front cover, untrimmed. Housed in a custom red, yellow, and blue geometric solander box. Title page vignette and numerous geometric diagrams printed in colour within text, engraved headpieces, floriated initials. Wrappers soiled, spine creased and cracked resulting in loss at ends, evidence of printed paper label missing from head of spine, front joint split but holding, contents generally bright, some light foxing as usual, sporadic damp staining to lower margins, a handful of neat later pencil annotations demonstrating close reading: a notably well-preserved copy in the fragile original wrappers.