If Carlsberg made maths textbooks

If Carlsberg made maths textbooks then they would probably make something along the lines of Oliver Byrne’s edition of Euclid’s Elements. In it Byrne tries to convey the propositions and proofs of Euclid’s Elements with as few words and as many pictures as possible. To make this possible he uses colour as integral parts of his diagrams. The book’s illustrations remind me of something Peter Saville might have produced in the eighties for Factory Records or something that might have come out of the Bauhaus. The illustrations look great, yet they manage to get across some really big ideas in a clear and simplistic manner. 1664 might have been a good year for beer but 1847 was a good year for maths textbooks.