Edwin A. Abbott was born in London on December 20, 1838, the son of the headmaster of the Philological School in Marylebone. Educated at the City of London School and at St. John's College in Cambridge, he received highest honors in the classics, mathematics, and theology. After graduation Abbott married and became a minister. In addition to holding positions at King Edward's School in Birmingham and at Clifton College in Bristol, he became headmaster of the City of London School in 1865--a position he held for twenty-five years. He was considered one of the greatest teachers of his era.
Abbott retired in 1889 to devote himself to his literary and theological pursuits. Although most remembered for his mathematical satire Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, published under the pseudonym A. Square, he authored many other books. Among his many works are Shakespearean Grammar (1870); Francis Bacon: His Life and Works (1885); the anonymous theological discussion The Kernel and the Husk (1886); three anonymously published religious romances-- Philochristus (1878), Onesimus (1882), and Sitanus (1906); Philomythus (1891); The Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman (1892); St. Thomas of Canterbury, His Death and Miracles (1898); as well as "The Gospels," an article published in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Abbott died on October 12, 1926.