Flatland

Book Description

Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1885. The first American edition of this classic fable, published pseudonymously and in print continuously for more than a century. Illustrations by the author. One of the most significant books published in the late 19th century, Flatland posited a way for the inhabitants of its two-dimensional world to conceive of higher dimensions such as our own three-dimensional world, and by extension a way for inhabitants of a three-dimensional world to do the same. Prior to Einstein's general theory of relativity, it aimed at redefining the frame of reference of our perceptions of the world and opening up the possibility of the kind of self-awareness that came to characterize the modernist, and post-modernist, perspective. This copy was loaned to multi-media artist Inga McCaslin Frick for an installation in a show entitled Cosmosis. The show was postponed, but Frick did create a small print of an image of the book held aloft by a shadow hand, and that print, signed by Frick is included. Frick's own work often touches on subjective and objective reality and the nature of spatial perception. The book has an owner gift inscription on flyleaf, darkening to spine, handling apparent on boards, light fraying to the corners and ends: a very good copy, without dust jacket. The print is fine. . First Edition. hardcover.

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