Elaborate set of geometrical wooden models for demonstration in mahogany case with label of contents, English, c. second quarter 19th century.

This set of wooden models was made to accompany Nathaniel Larkin’s book The Rudiments of Linear, Plane and Solid Geometry, published in 1820. The book was intended for ‘junior classes’, and the set cost 12 shillings, about half a week’s average wage. Larkin was a mathematics teacher who was particularly interested in the properties of solids and in chemical crystal structures. Sets were also made in glass. Similar but larger and more expensive sets of models were made from the 18th century to accompany the books on solid geometry in Euclid’s Elements.