Edwin A. Abbott

From Biography Base Edwin Abbott Abbott December 20, 1838 1926 , English schoolmaster and theologian, is best known as the author of the mathematical satire Flatland 1884.He was educated at the City of London School and at St John s College, Cambridge, where he took the highest honours in classics, mathematics and theology, and became fellow of his college In 1862 he took orders After holding masterships at King Edward s School, Birmingham, and at Clifton College, he succeeded G F Mortimer as headmaster of the City of London School in 1865 at the early age of twenty six He was Hulsean lecturer in 1876.He retired in 1889, and devoted himself to literary and theological pursuits Dr Abbott s liberal 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 , Onesimus 1882 , and Sitanus 1906.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 Encyclop dia 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 , Johannine Grammar 1906 Flatland was published in 1884.His brother, Evelyn Abbott 1843 1901 , was a well known tutor of Balliol College, Oxford, and author of a scholarly history of Greece.