Biography:Edwin Abbott Abbott

Short description: British theologian and author (1838–1926)

The Reverend Edwin Abbott Abbott FBA
Born	(1838-12-20)20 December 1838 Marylebone, London, England
Died	12 October 1926(1926-10-12) (aged 87) Hampstead, London, England
Education	City of London School St John's College, Cambridge
Occupation	Teacher, author
Known for	Flatland
Parent(s)	Edwin and Jane Abbott

Edwin Abbott Abbott FBA (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926) was an English schoolmaster, theologian, and Anglican priest, best known as the author of the novella Flatland (1884).

Biography

Edwin Abbott Abbott was the eldest son of Edwin Abbott (1808–1882), headmaster of the Philological School, Marylebone, and his wife, Jane Abbott (1806–1882). His parents were first cousins.

He was born in London and educated at the City of London School and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took the highest honours of his class in classics, mathematics and theology, and became a fellow of his college. In particular, he was 1st Smith's prizeman in 1861. In 1862 he took orders. After holding masterships at King Edward's School, Birmingham, he succeeded G. F. Mortimer as headmaster of the City of London School in 1865, at the early age of 26. There, he oversaw the education of future Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. Abbott was Hulsean lecturer in 1876.

He retired in 1889, and devoted himself to literary and theological pursuits. Abbott's open-minded inclinations in theology were prominent both in his educational views and in his books. His Shakespearian Grammar (1870) is a permanent contribution to English philology. In 1885, he published a life of Francis Bacon. His theological writings include three anonymously published religious romances – Philochristus (1878), where he tried to raise interest in Gospels reading, Onesimus (1882), and Silanus the Christian (1908).

More weighty contributions are the anonymous theological discussion The Kernel and the Husk (1886), Philomythus (1891), his book The Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman (1892), and his article "The Gospels" in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, embodying a critical view which caused considerable stir in the English theological world. He also wrote St Thomas of Canterbury, His Death and Miracles (1898), Johannine Vocabulary (1905), and Johannine Grammar (1906).

Abbott also wrote educational textbooks, one being Via Latina: A First Latin Book which was published in 1880 and distributed around the world within the education system.

Flatland

Flatland title page, 1884

Abbott's best-known work is his 1884 novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions which describes a two-dimensional world and explores the nature of dimensions. It has often been categorized as science fiction although it could more precisely be called "mathematical fiction".

With the advent of modern science fiction from the 1950s to the present day, Flatland has seen a revival in popularity, especially among science fiction and cyberpunk fans. Many works have been inspired by the novella, including novel sequels and short films.

Bibliography

• Via Latina: A First Latin Book, Including Accidence, Rules of Syntax, Exercises, Vocabularies and Rules for Construing (Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday, revised edition: 1882)
• Shakespearian Grammar: An Attempt to Illustrate Some of the Differences Between Elizabethan and Modern English, for the Use of Schools (Macmillan, 1870)
• Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Seeley & Co., 1884)
• Francis Bacon: An Account of His Life and Works (Macmillan, 1885)
• Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord (Macmillan, 1878)
• Onesimus: Memoirs of a Disciple of St. Paul (Macmillan, 1882)
• The Kernel and the Husk (Macmillan, 1886)
• Philomythus: An Antidote Against Credulity (Macmillan, 1891)
• The Anglican Career of John Henry Newman|Cardinal Newman (Macmillan, 1892)
• St Thomas of Canterbury: His Death and Miracles (Adam and Charles Black, 1898)
• Johannine Vocabulary: A Comparison of the Words of the Fourth Gospel with Those of the Three (Adam and Charles Black, 1905)
• Johannine Grammar (Adam and Charles Black, 1906)
• Silanus the Christian (Adam and Charles Black, 1906)
• The FourFold Gospel: or, A Harmony of The Four Gospels in five volumes, 1913-1917
  • Volume I: Introduction, 1913

See also

• List of Old Citizens

References

• Dictionary of National Biography

Further reading

• Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1995). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 1. ISBN 0-312-13486-X. 
• Harper, Lila Marz, ed (2010). Flatland. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Broadview. ISBN 978-1-55111-690-7. 
• Thorne, J.O.; T.C. Collocott (1984). Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap. ISBN 0-550-18022-2. 
• Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. pp. 1. ISBN 0-911682-27-9. 

External links

• Works by Edwin Abbott Abbott in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
• Works by Edwin Abbott Abbott at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Edwin Abbott Abbott at Faded Page (Canada)

• Error in Template:Internet Archive author: Edwin Abbott Abbott doesn't exist.
  • A Shakespearian Grammar at the Internet Archive
• Works by Edwin Abbott Abbott at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Portraits of Edwin Abbott at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Edwin Abbott Abbott", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Abbott.html .
• Edwin Abbott Abbott on IMDb
• Edwin Abbott Abbott at the Internet Book List
• Edwin Abbott Abbott at the Internet Book Database of Fiction
• Edwin Abbott Abbott at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Free audiobook narration of Flatland
• Online text of Flatland
• Full text of A Shakespearian Grammar on the Tufts University Perseus Digital Library
• Thomas Banchoff collection of materials relating to Edwin Abbott Abbott at the Brown University John Hay Library