Front Cover of Oliver Byrne's Elements of Euclid by Art Meets Science ISBN:9781528720090

Oliver Byrne's Elements of Euclid - Image 2

Oliver Byrne's Elements of Euclid - Image 3

Oliver Byrne’s Elements of Euclid

The First Six Books with Coloured Diagrams and Symbols (Art Meets Science Edition)

In one of the most striking editions in the history of mathematical publishing, Oliver Byrne combines Euclid’s geometric theories with colour proofs, turning what was already a cornerstone academic text into a work of art.

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Book Description

First published in 1847, Oliver Byrne’s Elements of Euclid reworks the first six books of Euclid’s Elements, the classic books of geometry written by the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, c. 300 BC. Where earlier editions relied on labelled diagrams and written notation, Byrne replaced the letters with colour. Scattered across each page in brilliant reds, blues, and yellows are triangles, squares, and circles arranged in countless combinations with intersecting lines and numbers.

While Euclid’s text remained a classroom essential well into the nineteenth century, Byrne’s colourful expression lent itself more readily to the art world. Its graphics anticipate the twentieth-century avant-garde, the coloured forms strikingly close to the work of De Stijl and the Bauhaus produced decades later.

In a celebration of the art found in numbers, Elements of Euclid reproduces a facsimile of Oliver Byrne’s original work, taking special care to conserve the colours, shapes, and text as they were printed in 1847.

Publisher's Note

For the designer, the mathematician, and anyone who finds beauty in the shape of an idea, Oliver Byrne’s Elements of Euclid shows geometry as an art form.

Byrne has taken a mathematical text and turned it into something vibrant and beautifully designed. It’s easy to see why his method has been so admired; the combination of practicality and dynamic illustrations puts it in a league of its own. Its resemblance to later modern art movements, such as the Bauhaus movement, adds another layer of appreciation for his colourful expressions.

“As a self-professed maths novice, this was the first time I’d seen geometry presented in a way I could also understand visually. Mathematics and art always felt entirely separate practices to me, but now I can actually see their living relationship. Byrne’s work is so unique I haven’t seen anything quite like it since.”— Emily, Editor

Additional information

Weight	587.8656 g
Dimensions	6.14 × 9.21 in
ISBN	9781528720090, 9781528770439, 9781528797580
Formats Available	Ebook, Hardback, Paperback
Pages	308
Publication Date	10 May 2022

Book Features:

A facsimile of Oliver Byrne’s 1847 colour-illustrated edition of Euclid’s Elements.
The first six books of Euclid presented in red, yellow, blue, and black geometric diagrams.
Prefigures work by De Stijl, the Bauhaus, and twentieth-century abstract art.
A pioneering example of visual pedagogy in the history of mathematics teaching.
A distinctive gift and coffee table book for designers, mathematicians, and anyone drawn to the beauty of geometry.

Editorial Reviews:

“Many parts of nature can neither be invented with sufficient subtlety, nor demonstrated with sufficient perspicuity… without the aid and intervening of the Mathematics.”—Francis Bacon, 1605

Extract

Byrne’s Euclid was his most ingenious educational work. By accompanying Euclid’s original geometric theories with expressive, colourful proofs, Byrne turned what was already a cornerstone academic text into a pedagogical work of art. Working as an aid to understanding Euclid’s complex equations, Byrne’s fascinating and carefully considered graphics added an appealing visual element for many who struggle to make sense of complex mathematics with numbers alone. The compelling explanations in vibrant red, yellow, and blue float across the book’s pages, bringing the ancient theorems to life, in an attempt as he expressed: ‘to teach people how to think, and not what to think’. Each wash of colour, shape, form, angle, and line were carefully contemplated to create visually stunning and easily conceivable graphics.

—From the Introduction

More About This Work

Byrne’s Euclid is as much a triumph of printing as of mathematics. Charles Whittingham produced it at the Chiswick Press – the leading name in Victorian book design – for the publisher William Pickering in 1847, and printed it in four colours at a time when this was extraordinarily difficult. Each colour was struck from a separate plate, and each was registered by hand so the angles and edges aligned exactly. This attention to detail made the book ruinously expensive, selling for 25 shillings (four or five times the cost of a usual book), which put it far beyond the reach of the students and teachers it was intended for. It became an object to be admired more than bought, and was shown among a select few at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Today it is remembered as one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the whole century.