A third volume, which was to have contained the remaining works of Euclid, never appeared. "To the scholar who wants one edition of the Elements we should decidedly recommend this, as bringing together all that has been done for the text of Euclid's greatest work." De Morgan.
An edition of the whole of Euclid's works in the original has long been promised by Teubner the well-known German publisher, as one of his series of compact editions of Greek and Latin authors; but we believe there is no hope of its early appearance.
Robert Simson's edition of the Elements of Euclid, which we have in substance adopted in the present work, differs considerably from the original. The English reader may ascertain the contents of the original by consulting the work entitled The Elements of Euclid with dissertations... by James Williamson. This work consists of two volumes quarto; the first volume was published at Oxford in 1781, and the second at London in 1788. Williamson gives a close translation of the thirteen books of the Elements into English, and he indicates by the use of Italics the words which are not in the original but which are required by our language.
Among the numerous works which contain notes on the Elements of Euclid we will mention four by which we have been aided in drawing up the selection given in this volume.
An Examination of the first six Books of Euclid's Elements by Willam Austin... Oxford, 1781.
Euclid's Elements of Plane Geometry with copious notes... by John Walker. London, 1827.
The first six books of the Elements of Euclid with a Commentary by Dionysius Lardner, fourth edition. London, 1834.
Short supplementary remarks on the first six Books of Euclid's Elements, by Professor De Morgan, in the Companion to the Almanac for 1849.
We may also notice the following works:
Geometry, Plane, Solid, and Spherical,... London 1830; this forms part of the Library of Useful Knowledge.
Théorèmes et Problèmes de Géométrié Eleméntaire par Eugène Catalan... Troisieme edition. Paris, 1858.
For, the History of Geometry the student is referred to Montucla's Histoire des Mathematiques, and to Chasles's Aperçu historique sur l'origine et le devèloppement des Méthodes en Gèométrie..
