Flatland

In this work about a land of two dimensions we have at once social satire, as pointed today as when it was written, and insights into theoretical science. The author, posing as a square inhabitant of Flatland, first describes his country. Then he tells of his visions of Lineland and Pointland, his trip to Spaceland, and his fate when he preaches the Third dimension in Flatland. Edwin A. Abbott (1838-1926) was headmaster at City of London School. He was Hulsean Lecturer at Cambridge in 1876 and Select Preacher at Oxford in the succeeding year. He retired in 1889, devoting himself to literary and theological pursuits. Dr. Abbott's liberal inclinations in theology were prominent both in his educational views and in his books. His 'Shakespearean Grammar' (1870) is a permanent contribution to English philology. In 1885 he published a life of Francis Bacon.