Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by Edwin A. Abbott

Presented by

Public Domain Books

Part I: This World

---------------------------------------------------------------—
|        “O day and night, but this is wondrous strange”        |
|        ______                                                 |
|       /       /     /|   ------  /     /|      /|    /  /-.   |
|     /----   /     /__|    /    /     /__|    /  |  /  /   /   |
|   /       /___  /    |  /    /___  /    |  /    |/  /__.-’    |
|                                                               |
| No Dimensions                                  One Dimension  |
|       .         A ROMANCE OF MANY DIMENSIONS       -----      |
|   POINTLAND                                      LINELAND     |
|                                                               |
| Two Dimensions                               Three Dimensions |
|      ___                                             __       |
|     |   |                                          /__/|      |
|     |___|                                         |__|/       |
|   FLATLAND                                       SPACELAND    |
|          “Fie, fie, how franticly I square my talk!”          |
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With Illustrations by the Author, A SQUARE (Edwin A. Abbott)

                                  To
                  The Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL
                        And H. C. IN PARTICULAR
                        This Work is Dedicated
                    By a Humble Native of Flatland
                           In the Hope that
              Even as he was Initiated into the Mysteries
                          Of THREE Dimensions
                   Having been previously conversant
                             With ONLY TWO
               So the Citizens of that Celestial Region
                   May aspire yet higher and higher
          To the Secrets of FOUR FIVE OR EVEN SIX Dimensions
                         Thereby contributing
                 To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION
                     And the possible Development
            Of that most rare and excellent Gift of MODESTY
                       Among the Superior Races
                           Of SOLID HUMANITY

Preface to the Second and Revised Edition, 1884.

Continue...

Part I: This World  •  By the Editor  •  Section 1. Of the Nature of Flatland  •  Section 2. Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland  •  Section 3. Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland  •  Section 4. Concerning the Women  •  Section 5. Of our Methods of Recognizing one another  •  Section 6. Of Recognition by Sight  •  Section 7. Concerning Irregular Figures  •  Section 8. Of the Ancient Practice of Painting  •  Section 9. Of the Universal Colour Bill  •  Section 10. Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition  •  Section 11. Concerning our Priests  •  Section 12. Of the Doctrine of our Priests  •  Part II: Other Worlds  •  Section 13. How I had a Vision of Lineland  •  Section 14. How I vainly tried to explain the nature of Flatland  •  Section 15. Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland  •  Section 16. How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland  •  Section 17. How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds  •  Section 18. How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there  •  Section 20. How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision  •  Section 21. How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success  •  Section 22. How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the result