Flatland

that the misconception of some of his critics on this matter has induced him to insert in his dialogue with the Sphere, certain remarks which have a bearing on the point in question, and which he had previously omitted as being tedious and unnecessary. ↩

“What need of a certificate?” a Spaceland critic may ask: “Is not the procreation of a Square son a certificate from Nature herself, proving the Equal-sidedness of the father?” I reply that no lady of any position will marry an uncertified Triangle. Square offspring has sometimes resulted from a slightly Irregular Triangle; but in almost every such case the Irregularity of the first generation is visited on the third; which either fails to attain the Pentagonal rank, or relapses to the Triangular. ↩

When I was in Spaceland I understood that some of your priestly circles have in the same way a separate entrance for villagers, farmers and teachers of Board Schools (Spectator, Sept. 1884, p. 1255) that they may “approach in a becoming and respectful manner.” ↩

When I say “sitting,” of course I do not mean any change of attitude such as you in Spaceland signify by that word; for as we have no feet, we can no more “sit” nor “stand” (in your sense of the word) than one of your soles or flounders.

Nevertheless, we perfectly well recognize the different mental states of volition implied in “lying,” “sitting,” and “standing,” which are to some extent indicated to a beholder by a slight increase of lustre corresponding to the increase of volition.

But on this, and a thousand other kindred subjects, time forbids me to dwell. ↩

List of Illustrations

1. A diagram of three triangles, points downwards. They all have the same width, but the second has a smaller height than the first, and the third has a smaller height again.

2. A map of a pentagonal house. The corners are marked A, B, R, O and F. The edge between R and A has the men’s door, and the edge between F and B has a smaller women’s door.

3. A diagram showing two shapes and views onto them. The first shape, an equilateral triangle has the near corner to the point of view labelled A and the furthest visible points labelled B and C. Points D and E are level with point A and sit on the lines of sight from the point of view to corners B and C. The second shape is a regular pentagon and has the same points marked (with prime marks) to show that the outside visible points are closer to the point of view than with the triangle.

4. A diagram showing the lines of sight from a position on the right hand side of a hexagon, aligned to have points up and down. The labelled points on the hexagon are A and B on the side visible to the viewpoint, and C and D which show the extent of the hexagon that is visible.

5. A diagram showing the lines of sight from a position on the right hand side of a circle on the left. The labelled points on the circle are M at the top, A on the left directly opposite the point of view, B on the right nearest the point of view, and C and D which describe the visible portion of the front of the circle.

6. A diagram titled “My view of Lineland.” It shows the narrator looking down on an axis, along which can be found women (dots), boys (small dashes), men (longer dashes) and in the middle the king who, being on the line, can only see a point in both directions.

7. A diagram showing Lineland, with the King’s position on the right, and in the middle the narrator’s body just before they disappeared.

8. A diagram showing three states of the Sphere’s intersection with a point of view. This first shows the Sphere with his section at full size, the second shows the Sphere rising with a smaller intersection, and the third the Sphere at the point of vanishing with a tiny intersection.

9. A map of the house, with the locations of rooms and inhabitants marked.

10. A diagram showing two cubes similar in size and aspect; the first is composed from stacked squares, the second is drawn with no guide to its composition.

Colophon

Flatland
was published in 1884 by
Edwin A. Abbott.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Robin Whittleton,
and is based on a transcription produced in 1995 for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
Rotterdam,
a painting completed in 1914 by
Edward Wadsworth.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
January 4, 2018, 11:03 p.m.
You can check for updates to this ebook, view its revision history, or download it for different ereading systems at
standardebooks.org/ebooks/edwin-a-abbott/flatland.

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Uncopyright

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