Nearly a century before Mondrian made geometrical red, yellow, and blue lines famous, 19th-century mathematician Oliver Byrne employed the color scheme for his 1847 edition of Euclid's mathematical and geometric treatise Elements. Byrne's idea was to use color to make learning easier and "diffuse permanent knowledge." The result has been described as one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the 19th century.
The facsimile of Byrne's vivid publication is now available as part of TASCHEN'S Bibliotheca Universalis series. A masterwork of art and science, it is as beautiful in the boldness of its red, yellow, and blue figures and diagrams as it is in the mathematical precision of its theories. In the simplicity of forms and colors, the pages anticipate the vigor of De Stijl and Bauhaus design. In making complex information at once accessible and aesthetically engaging, this work is a forerunner to the information graphics that today define much of our data consumption.

Euclid's geometry - (not) a Via Regia? 4

Euklids Geometrie - (k)ein Königsweg? 8

La géométrie d'Euclide - une voie royale? 10

"To facilitate their acquirement" Oliver Byrne's The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid - didactic, colourful, and eccentric 12

"To facilitate their acquirement" Oliver Byrnes The First Six Books of the Elemens of Euclid - didaktisch, farbig und exzentrisch 36

The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid d'Oliver Byrne - didactique, coloré et excentrique 66

Bibliography/Bibliografie/Bibliographie 91

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