Byrne's Colourful Euclid

The Kenneth Clark (art history) competition at Winchester College involves giving a presentation to large audience including leading figures in the art world. In my entry, on Oliver Byrne's 1847 edition of Euclid's Elements, I argued that the mathematics textbook is not one, but two works of art. Watch a recording of my presentation below, and then look at some images of the two copies of Byrne's edition at the British Library below.

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There are two copies of Oliver Byrne's edition of Euclid's Elements in the British Library, with shelfmarks C.117.e.2 and C.190.b.17. All copies of Byrne's edition have problems because of the difficulty in printing. However, the former of the British Library's copies is considerably worse than the other.

Throughout much of C.117.e.2, the colour blue is corrupted to black. Click on each image below to expand it and view a caption. There are a few images to compare the corrupted colours to the typical blue.

'Blue' triangle in C.117.e.2.

A 'blue' square in C.117.e.2.

'Blue' squares in C.117.e.2.

A 'blue' square in C.117.e.2.

Blue elsewhere in C.117.e.2.

Blue in C.117.e.2.

'Blue' shapes in C.117.e.2.

Blue shapes in C.190.b.17.

A 'blue' line in C.117.e.2.

The blue line in C.190.b.17.

'Blue' shapes in C.117.e.2.

The blue shapes in C.190.b.17.

There are other mistakes in both editions. In one case, the misalignment has been noticed and then over-corrected by the printer between the two copies.

Misalignment in C.117.e.2.

Misalignment in C.190.b.17.

Misalignment in C.117.e.2.

Misalignment in C.190.b.17.

Mistake in C.117.e.2.

Mistake in C.190.b.17.

Problem in C.190.b.17.

Bled line in C.190.b.17.

Misalignment in C.190.b.17.