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.

EUCLID - BYRNE, Oliver.

Published by London: William Pickering, 1847

About this Item

First edition of one of the most lavish maths books ever produced, with a visual style which presaged both Bauhaus and Mondrian's De Stijl movement. In her survey, Friedman deemed Byrne's work "a triumph of colour printing" (p. 19). Oliver Byrne (1810-1880) had been teaching mathematics for around 15 years by 1847 - experience which presumably informed his use of colour in the present edition. His central conceit was that geometry may be more easily taught if letter labels (Angle A, for example) were instead replaced with colour coding. The result is a work filled with geometrical figures where angles, lines, and polygonal regions are assigned one of the three primary colours. The work was among the few books shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851, where it was widely praised for its beauty and artistry. It has continued to garner praise: McLean describes it as "one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century". These features came at a price, however - 25 shillings, making it around 12 times more than a normal black and white edition and placing it out of reach of most teachers. 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: by the time Pickering went bankrupt in 1853, almost 800 of the original 1,000 copies were unsold. 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. 29; McLean, Victorian Book Design, p. 19. Quarto (233 x 188 mm). Geometric title page vignette and extensive diagrams printed in red, yellow, and blue, wood-engraved headpieces, ornamental initials by C. Whittingham of Chiswick, text printed in Caslon old-face type. Contemporary green pebble-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt and ruled in blind, dark green coated endpapers, edges red. With 1918 pencil ownership signature to half-title. Light bumping, wear, and cockling, front joint starting at foot but holding firm, spine ends a little chipped, moderate foxing to contents, as commonly, minor damp staining to lower outer corner of final leaves, colours still bright: a very good copy.

Seller Inventory # 187297

Bibliographic Details

• Title: 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.
• Publisher: London: William Pickering, 1847
• Edition: 1st Edition