Abstract
This chapter considers how numerous editors of The Elements of Euclid, the first mathematics textbook, began their Euclidean journeys with virtually identical copy; however, their differing treatments, and their interpretations of their contemporary style guides, typify idiosyncratic editorial experiences. To demonstrate this, Barrow’s 1660, 1686 and 1705 editions are studied; and Simson’s influential 1756 edition is also treated briefly for comparative purposes. The editorial performances of Barrow and Simson are examined with reference to Joseph Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises (1683) and John Smith’s The Printer’s Grammar (1755), respectively.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Note that the first edition was published in 1908.
- 2.
See also Stakhov (2009, 2).
- 3.
- 4.
See also Klein (1992, 259).
- 5.
Simpkins (1966, 249) writes that ‘[by] the end of the seventeenth century Euclid was established as part of the liberal education of a gentleman and as a basic discipline for navigators and military scientists; he was read by the academic and the practical man, and neither had the monopoly of translating or interpreting the texts’.
- 6.
Simpkins (1966, 243) states that Barrow ’s Euclid ‘was clearly influential as the first cheap and compact, but reliable and complete edition, available first in academic circles and later to students of mathematics and navigation outside the universities’.
- 7.
- 8.
Barrow -Green (2007, 19) similarly identifies Barrow ’s editorial innovation : ‘A further novelty of Barrow ’s presentation is the placing of references to previous propositions etc. in the margin, which not only makes the references easier to see but also highlights the axiomatic structure of the whole enterprise’.
- 9.
Note that the 1686 second edition presents this breakout text with centred justification, whereas the 1705 third edition reinstates Barrow ’s 1660 left alignment with first-line indentation .
- 10.
According to Bonnell (2008, 47), Robert and Andrew Foulis printed their Greek and Latin publications using the imprint ‘Glasguae: in aedibus academicis excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis Academiae Typographi’.
- 11.
See also Trail (1812, 80).
- 12.
See also Drake (1970, 43–52).
- 13.
Goldstein (2000, 49) also provides examples of Simson ’s ‘startling’ alterations: ‘He split numerous diagrams into multiple pieces to make them easier to follow. In his edition V(8) mutated into three diagrams, while V(10) fell into six, each corresponding to one magnitude’.
References
Ackerberg-Hastings, Amy. 2002. Analysis and Synthesis in John Playfair’s Elements of Geometry. The British Journal for the History of Science 35 (1): 43–72.
Barker, Nicolas. 1981. Typography and the Meaning of Words: The Revolution in the Layout of Books in the Eighteenth Century. In The Book and the Book Trade in Eighteenth-Century Europe, ed. Giles Barber and Bernhard Fabian, 127–165. Hamburg: Dr Ernst Hauswedell & Co.
Barrow-Green, June. 2007. “Much Necessary for All Sortes of Men”: 450 Years of Euclid’s Elements in English. BSHM Bulletin: Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics 21 (1): 2–25.
Blum, Christopher O. 2002. The Oldest Math Textbook. The Journal of Education 183 (1): 107–115.
Bonnell, T.F. 2008. The Most Disreputable Trade: Publishing the Classics of English Poetry 1765–1810. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bourne, Claire M.L. 2014. Dramatic Pilcrows. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 108 (4): 413–452.
Broadbent, T.A.A. 1947. The First English Euclid. The Mathematical Gazette 31 (293): 1.
Drake, Stillman. 1970. Early Science and the Printed Book: The Spread of Science Beyond the Universities. Renaissance and Reformation 6 (3): 43–52.
Euclid, and Henry Hill. 1726. The Six First, Together with the Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Euclid’s Elements Demonstrated aAfter a New, Plain, and Easie Method. London: Printed by William Pearson, and Sold by R. and J. Bonwicke, in St. Paul’s-Church-Yard; F. Fayram, at the South-Entrance of the Royal-Exchange; and B. Motte, at the Middle-Temple-Gate, Fleet-Street.
Euclid, and Isaac Barrow. 1660. Euclide’s Elements; the Whole Fifteen Books Compendiously Demonstrated. London: Printed by R. Daniel for William Nealand.
Euclid, and Isaac Barrow. 1686. Euclid’s Elements. The Whole Fifteen Books Compendiously Demonstrated by Mr. Isaac Barrow, Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge. And Translated Out of the Latin. London: Printed for Christopher Hussey and E.P. in Little Britain.
Euclid, and Isaac Barrow. 1705. Euclide’s Elements; the Whole Fifteen Books Compendiously Demonstrated to Which Is Added Archimedes Theorems of the Sphere and Cylinder, Investigated by the Method of Indivisibles. London: Printed by E. Redmayne, and to Be Sold by J. Sprint at the Sign of the Bell in Little-Britain.
Euclid, and Robert Simson. 1756. The Elements of Euclid viz. the First Six Books, Together with the Eleventh and Twelfth. In This Edition, the Errors, by Which Theon, or Others, Have Long Ago Vitiated These Books, Are Corrected, and Some of Euclid’s Demonstrations Are Restored. By Robert Simson, M. D. Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow, ed. Gale. Glasgow: Printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis Printers to the University.
Euclid, and Thomas L. Heath. 1956. The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s Elements. 2d ed., rev. with additions ed. New York: Dover Publications.
Euclid, Henry Billingsley, and John Dee. 1570. The Elements of Geometrie of the Most Auncient Philosopher Euclide of Megara. Faithfully (Now First) Translated into the Englishe Toung, by H. Billingsley, Citizen of London. Whereunto Are Annexed Certaine Scholies, Annotations, and Inuentions, of the Best Mathematiciens, Both of Time Past, and in This Our Age. With a Very Fruitfull Præface Made by M. I. Dee. London: John Daye.
Feingold, Mordechai. 1990. Isaac Barrow: Divine, Scholar, Mathematician. In Before Newton: The Life and Times of Isaac Barrow, ed. Mordechai Feingold, 1–104. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gibson, George A. 1925. Some Criticisms of Robert Simson by Sir T. L. Heath. Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society 44: 39–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0013091500034349.
Goldstein, Joel A. 2000. A Matter of Great Magnitude: The Conflict over Arithmetization in 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-Century English Editions of Euclid’s Elements Books I Through VI (1561–1795). Historia Mathematica 27: 36–53.
Howsam, Leslie. 2014. The Practice of Book and Print Culture: Sources, Methods, Readings. In The Perils of Print Culture: Book, Print and Publishing History in Theory and Practice, ed. Eve Patten and Jason McElligott, 17–32. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Klein, Jacob. 1992. Greek Mathematical Thought and the Origin of Algebra. Mineola: Dover Publications.
Moxon, Joseph. 1683. Mechanick Exercises: Or, the Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the Art of Printing. The Second Volumne [sic]. London: Printed for Joseph Moxon on the West-side of Fleet-ditch, at the Sign of Atlas.
Ostermann, Alexander, and Gerhard Wanner. 2012. Geometry by Its History. Heidelberg/New York: Springer.
Simpkins, Diana M. 1966. Early Editions of Euclid in England. Annals of Science 22 (4): 225–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/00033796600203155.
Smith, John. 1755. The Printer’s Grammar. London: Printed for the Editor; and Sold by W. Owen, Near Temple Bar; and by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Paternoster Row.
Stahl, Gerry. 2013. Translating Euclid: Designing a Human-Centered Mathematics. San Rafael: Morgan & Claypool.
Stakhov, Alexey. 2009. The Mathematics of Harmony: From Euclid to Contemporary Mathematics and Computer Science. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
Stedall, Jacqueline. 2012. The Pathway of Knowledge and the English Euclidean Tradition. In Robert Recorde: The Life and Times of a Tudor Mathematician, ed. Gareth Roberts and Fenny Smith, 57–72. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Thomas-Stanford, Charles. 1924. Early Editions of Euclid’s Elements. The Library s4-V (1): 39–42.
Trail, W. 1812. Account of the Life and Writings of Robert Simson, M.D.: Late Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow. London: Printed for G. and W. Nicol.
Wardhaugh, Benjamin. 2012. A Wealth of Numbers: An Anthology of 500 Years of Popular Mathematics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hargrave, J. (2019). Eighteenth-Century Editorial Style at Work: The Editing of The Elements of Euclid by Isaac Barrow and Robert Simson. In: The Evolution of Editorial Style in Early Modern England. New Directions in Book History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20275-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20275-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20274-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20275-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)