Who says that geometry is boring? In yesterday's post we looked at a comparison between origami headdresses that recreated in some cases geometrical shapes and figures around the head of the models. And if you want to be inspired by geometry, try checking out rare volumes about this discipline in archives and libraries.
The University of Glasgow Library Flickr page has got some great tomes about geometry. The first one is The Elements of Geometrie of the most auncient Philosopher Euclide of Megara, translated into the English by H. Billingsley, introduced by John Dee and published in 1570.
Its author, Euclid, was a Greek mathematician living about 300 B.C. who founded a mathematical school in Alexandria in the reign of Ptolemy I, and the book contains al lGreek mathematical knowledge since Pythagoras.
The publication is divided in 13 books and looks at a wide range of topics, including plane geometry, the properties of numbers, irrational quantities and solid geometry. This edition is particularly intriguing as it features 930 pages of text with geometrical figures and several pop-up diagrams.
The main point behind the diagrams was highlighting the function and utilitarian aspect of geometry and the importance of experimenting. Through the pop-ups readers could easily understand key mathematical concepts such as volume relationships and shape recognition.
The pop-ups were extremely rare at the time and this was one of the first printed books that included folding and moveable diagrams. One copy of this book was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2011 and sold for £32,450, but, while not many of us will be able to own a copy, we can all leaf through it at this link (the volume is part of the archive of the University Libraries at the University of Oklahoma).
If you prefer a bit of colour in your geometrical figures check out The First Six Books of the Element of Euclid with coloured diagrams by Oliver Byrne (1847), again from the University of Glasgow Library Flickr page. This version included coloured diagrams and symbols instead of letters, that were also aimed at simplifying and explaining each geometric principle more clearly.
The art connection with this volume? The graphic design, colours and style of the geometrical figures seemed to anticipate modernist movements such as the Bauhaus and De Stijl.
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