Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions describes a two-dimensional world occupied by geometric figures, where women are simple line-segments, and men are polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and professionals, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life in two dimensions.
Flatland uses the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. Men are portrayed as polygons whose social status is determined by their regularity and the number of their sides, with a circle considered the "perfect" shape. On the other hand, women consist only of lines and are required by law to sound a "peace-cry" as they walk, lest they be mistaken face-to-face for a point.
This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.