Mathematical Treasure: Dodgson's Euclid, Books I and II

Charles Dodgson (1832-1898) was deeply involved in the late 19^th century British controversy concerning the teaching of Euclidean geometry. A staunch traditionalist, he railed against proposed reforms aimed at the modernization of geometry teaching, yet it is interesting to note that he also experimented with the teaching of Euclid’s classic. In his Euclid Books I, II (second edition, 1883), we see how he also attempted to reorganize the teaching of geometry.

A flow chart ordering the presentation of the propositions of Book I is given in the beginning of the text.

In his “Introduction,” Dodgson noted some contemporary geometry reformers, but concluded that “no treatise has yet appeared worthy to supersede that of Euclid.”

In the early pages, readers are introduced to basic definitions and notational conventions.

Proposition 1 is given on page 11.

Pages 72-73 present the familiar “Windmill Proof” of the Pythagorean Theorem.

The images above are supplied through the courtesy of the University of California Libraries. The work may be viewed in its entirety in the Internet Archive.

Index to Mathematical Treasures