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Selected images from a 1608 edition of Livre de Pourtraiture by Jehan Cousin the Younger (ca. 1522–1595), son of of the famous painter and sculptor Jehan Cousin the Elder (ca. 1490-ca. 1560) who was often compared to his contemporary, Albrecht Dürer. Just before his death, Jehan the Elder published his noted work Livre de...
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The illustrative plates from Snowflakes: a Chapter from the Book of Nature (1863), a collection of poems, extracts, anecdotes and reflections on the theme of snow and the snowflake. According to the preface of the book, apart from the first few geometrical figures at the top of the first plate, which show the primary...
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Selected pages from Geometria by Augustin Hirschvogel (1503–1553), a German artist, mathematician, and cartographer known primarily for his etchings. In this version from the Deutsche Fotothek, amid the rigid lines of the geometrical sketches appear the chaotic forms of stains which lie on each of the pages. Housed at: Wikimedia Commons | From: Deutsche...
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Illustrations from Leonhard Zubler’s Novum Instrumentum Geometricum (1607). Zubler was a Swiss goldsmith and instrument maker who is credited with introducing the use of the plane table into modern surveying. This book demonstrates the use of his instruments in techniques of triangulation, particularly in the context of warfare. Housed at: Wikimedia Commons | From:...
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The first six books of the Elements of Euclid in which coloured diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters, by Oliver Byrne; 1847; W. Pickering, London. Oliver Byrne (1810–1890) was a civil engineer and prolific author of works on subjects including mathematics, geometry, and engineering. His most well known book was this version...
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Images from Jean Errard’s Fortification Réduicte Art and Démonstrée (Paris, 1600), a seminal work in fortification theory. Errard (1554-1610) was a mathematician by training, and used his love of geometry (he made several translation of Euclid’s Elements) to develop a comprehensive theory of military fortifications. He developed a series of geometric designs, based on...
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Geometrical Psychology, or, The Science of Representation an Abstract of the Theories and Diagrams of B. W. Betts, by Louisa S. Cook; 1887; G. Redway, London. Geometrical psychology, or, The science of representation: an abstract of the theories and diagrams of B. W. Betts details Benjamin Bett’s remarkable attempts to mathematically model human consciousness...
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Diagrams from Geometrical psychology, or, The science of representation: an abstract of the theories and diagrams of B. W. Betts (1887) by Louisa S. Cook, which details New Zealander Benjamin Bett’s remarkable attempts to mathematically model the evolution of human consciousness through geometric forms. From the Introduction: The symbolic forms which Mr. Betts has...
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A Theory of Pure Design – Harmony, Balance, Rhythm; 1907; Houghton Mifflin, Boston. A book detailing the science behind harmony, balance, and rhythm in art. The author, Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935), was an American painter, art collector, and professor of art at Harvard University. From the preface: The terms and principles of Art have,...
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In 1884 Edwin Abbott Abbott published Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, the first ever book that could be described as ‘mathematical fiction’. Ian Stewart, author of Flatterland and The Annotated Flatland, introduces the strange tale of the geometric adventures of A. Square. Edwin Abbott Abbott, who became Headmaster of the City of London...
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