Thomas Malton, the elder (1726–1801) was an English architectural draughtsman and writer on geometry.

Life

Born in London, Malton originally kept an upholsterer's shop in the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline *Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa *Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street, ...

. He contributed two drawings of St. Martin's Church to the exhibition of the

Free Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established ...

in 1761, and also architectural drawings to the exhibitions of the

Incorporated Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...

in 1766 and 1768. In 1772 and the following years he sent architectural drawings to the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. There are drawings by him in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. In 1774 Malton published ''The Royal Road to Geometry; or an easy and familiar Introduction to the Mathematics'', a school-book intended as an improvement on Euclid, and in 1775 ''A Compleat Treatise on Perspective in Theory and Practice, on the Principles of Dr. Brook Taylor''. The ''Compleat Treatise'' is the earliest known commercially produced

pop-up book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

since it contains 3-dimensional paper mechanisms. Some of the pop-ups are activated by pulling string and form geometric shapes used to aid the reader in understanding the concept of perspective. It came to replace the pamphlet of

Joshua Kirby Joshua Kirby (1716, Parham, Suffolk – 1774, Kew), often mistakenly called John Joshua Kirby, was an English 18th-century landscape painter, engraver, writer, draughtsman and architect famed for his publications and teaching on linear perspect ...

as the standard English work on

linear perspective Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of 3D projection, graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate r ...

. He also gave lectures on perspective at his house in Poland Street,

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

. Having fallen into financial difficulties in London he moved to Dublin, accompanied by his son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. He lived in the city for the rest of his life, gaining a reputation there as a lecturer on geometry. He died at Dublin on 18 February 1801

Family

His eldest son was

Thomas Malton __NOTOC__ Thomas Malton (1748 – 7 March 1804; also known as Thomas Malton the Younger), was an English painter of topographical and architectural views, and an engraver. J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Girtin were amongst his pupils. He is des ...

, the younger.

James Malton James Malton (1761–1803) was an Irish engraver and watercolourist, who once taught geometry and perspective. He worked briefly as a draughtsman in the office of the celebrated Irish architect James Gandon. He is best known for a series of pr ...

was another son.

Notes

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malton, Thomas 1726 births 1801 deaths British draughtsmen English mathematicians Pop-up book artists