Brook Taylor’s Work on Linear Perspective: A Study of Taylor’s Role in the History of Perspective Geometry. Including Facsimiles of Taylor’s Two Books on Perspective

259 Pages·1992·10.237 MB·English

by  Kirsti Andersen (auth.)

Sources
in the History of Mathematics and
Physical Sciences
10
Editor
G.l. Toomer
Advisory Board
R.P. Boas 1.Z. Buchwald P.l. Davis
T. Hawkins A.E. Shapiro D. Whiteside
Sources in the History of
Mathematics and Physical Sciences
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Diodes on Burning Mirrors: The Arabic Translation of the Lost Greek
Original, Edited, with English Translation and Commentary by
GJ. Toomer
Vol. 2: A. Hermann, K.V. Meyenn, V.F. Weisskopf(Eds.)
Wolfgang Pauli: Scientific Correspondence I: 1919-1929
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Books IV to VII of Diophantus' Arithmetica: In the Arabic Translation
A ttributed to Qusta ibn Liiqa
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Translation and Commentary by G.J. Toomer
Vol. 10: K. Andersen
Brook Taylor's Work on Linear Perspective
Kirsti Andersen
Brook Taylor's Work
on Linear Perspective
A Study of Taylor's Role in
the History of Perspective Geometry.
lncluding Facsimiles of Taylor's
Two Books on Perspective.
With 114 Illustrations
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Kirsti Andersen
History of Science Department
University of Aarhus
Ny-Munkegade
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Brook Taylor's Linear Perspective and New Principles of Linear Perspective were printed for
R. Knaplock at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard in 1715 and 1719 respectively.
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. in 1992
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1s t edition 1992
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9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 978-1-4612-6951-9 ISBN 978-1-4612-0935-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-0935-5
Brook Taylor
From Principles of Linear Perspective (ed. 1. Jopling),
Preface
The aim of this publication, consisting of three "books", is to make Brook
Taylor's two important works on perspective accessible, and to account for
Taylor's influential role in the development of the mathematical theory of
perspective and its applications.
Book One contains a presentation of Taylor's contributions to the theory
of perspective and surveys their place in the history of this discipline from
Guidobaldo del Monte to Johann Heinrich Lambert; it furthermore describes
how significantly they guided the English generation of scientists and practi
tioners who worked on perspective after Taylor.
In Book Two, Taylor's Linear Perspective (1715) is reproduced to scale
110%. Book Three is a facsimile of his New Principles (1719), in which the
figures have been reduced for technical reasons. Each of the last two books
are organized so that the plates with figures are placed after the text, and they
end with a section of notes where I have made cross references between Books
Two and Three and references to Book One. Furthermore, I have added
mathematical details to a few of Taylor's arguments and listed some misprints.
In the margin to Taylor's text asterisks are placed to indicate my notes.
At the end of the publication is an index covering all three books.
Acknowledgments
Several have generously helped me in preparing this publication. Mette
Dybdahl and Kate Larsen have put much work into eradicating linguistic
mistakes, typing the manuscript, drawing the figures, and retouching the
photographs of Taylor's books. Henk Bos, Jeremy Gray, Jesper Liitzen, and
Gerald J. Toomer have given very useful comments on the content and on
the English of Book One. I am extremely grateful to all of them, and to my
sons, Christian and Michael, for supporting this work.
Vll1 Preface
Moreover, I am very thankful to the Danish National Library of Science
and Medicine for kind permission to reproduce Linear Perspective and New
Principles from the originals in its possession.
Finally, I want to thank the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the
Danish National Library of Science and Medicine for permission to reproduce
the photographs of Figures 1,37, and 38.
Contents
Preface vii
BOOK ONE
Brook Taylor's Role in the History of Linear Perspective
by Kirsti Andersen
1. Introduction 3
2. Taylor's Interest in Perspective 4
3. The Basic Concepts of Taylor's Method 7
4. Taylor's Inheritance 12
5. Towards a Perspective Geometry 23
6. Three-Dimensional Perspective Problems 34
7. Inverse Problems of Perspective 45
8. The Appendices of New Principles 48
9. Taylor and the History of Linear Perspective in England before 1800 51
10. The Acknowledgment of Taylor's Theory on the Continent 60
11. Taylor's Method and Principles 63
12. Concluding Remarks 66
Appendix. The Books on Perspective which Taylor Presumably Possessed 67
BOOK TWO
Linear Perspective 69
by Brook Taylor
To the Reader 73
I. An Explanation of Those Things that Are Necessary To Be Understood
in Order to the Practice of Perspective 75
II. Propositions Relating to the General Practice of Perspective 84
III. Of Finding the Shadows of Given Figures 104
IV. Of Finding the Representations of the Reflections of Figures on
Polished Planes 109
V. Of the Inverse Practice of Perspective and of the Manner of Examining
Pictures Already Drawn 112
Figures to Linear Perspective 117
Books Printed for R. Knaplock at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's
Church-Yard 135
Notes to Linear Perspective by Kirsti Andersen 137
x Contents
BOOK THREE
New Principles of Linear Perspective 145
by Brook Taylor
Preface 149
Part I. Definitions [Axioms, Theorems, Problems, and Examples] 161
Part II. Of the Manner of Finding the Original Figures from Their
Projections Given, and of the Situation That Is Necessary To Be
Observed for Viewing Particular Projections 214
Appendix I. The Description of a Method, by which the Representations of
Figures May Be Drawn On any Surface, Be it Never so Irregular 219
Appendix II. A New Theory for Mixing of Colours, Taken from Sir Isaac
Newton's Opticks 222
Figures to New Principles 231
Notes to New Principles by Kirsti Andersen 245
Bibliography 249
Index 257
Book One
Brook Taylor's Role in the
History of Linear Perspective
Kirsti Andersen