Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

London: Seeley & Co, 1884. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. RARE FIRST EDITION OF ABBOTT'S CLASSIC. "Edwin Abbott's Flatland may be one of the most unclassifiable works of literature ever published. While it is acknowledged to be a classic of early science fiction, a work of Victorian social satire, and a religious allegory, it also presents, through its introduction to higher dimensions, an important contribution to the development of an area of mathematics that was eventually merged into non-Euclidean geometry. Flatland is an unusually effective work that spans disciplines and challenges divisional categories. Since its publication in 1884, the book's popularity has continued today as its readers have embraced it as science fiction, popular science, and metaphysics. Working from the groundwork of philosophical issues raised by Plato's Republic, Flatland merges social satire and geometry to produce a novel situated in two-dimensional space, a believable world populated by memorable inhabitants whose geometric shapes designate their positions in a complex social structure, one that bears some resemblance to the Victorian class structure" (Lila Marz Harper, Flatland).

Published pseudonymously by Abbott as "A Square". London: Seeley & Co., 1884. Octavo, original paper wrappers with illustrated vellum jacket. Custom box. Some toning to wrappers; heavy chipping to spine, front joint reinforced; some foxing to endpapers; text very clean.

A RARE SURVIVAL: Because of the fragile nature of the format, first editions of Flatland in original condition have become notoriously rare.