Published in 1847 by William Pickering, the book has
an extraordinary graphic and chromatic similarity with the Bauhaus design formatting.
Indeed, in the whole book are used the primary colors red, yellow and blue
(beside black of course). Flipping through its pages the reader hardly think
that “The first six books of Euclid's
Elements” by Byrne was written more than 70 years before the Bauhaus school
opening.
The main aim of the book is to spread science, and the
strategy is clearly graphical. In the introduction, the author say “The arts
and science have become so extensive, that to facilitate their acquirement is
of as much importance as to extend their boundaries. Illustration, if it does
not shorten the time of study, will at least make it more agreeable”.
The interest of this book is not really the
contents (even if the Euclid's Elements is one of the most important text about
mathematics and geometry second only to the Bible in the number of editions and published since the first printing in 1482), but
the real author’s afford in order to find the best way to show and to explain
such complex and abstract concepts.
Here the First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid on Scribd. Enjoy your reading.
