Books offered by JF Ptak Science Books

The Mark I Computer, Manchester, 1949

"A Calculating Machine with a 'Memory': thew Control Panel, and a Storage Tube in Use".  Article in the Illustrated London News for 25 June, 1949, featuring the great, first-programmable computer, the Mark I, at the University of Manchester.  The article appears on the front page of the magazine and is continued in a wide centerfold spread, showing a two-page photograph of the machine.  13x10 inches, 24pp (the whole issue).  Nice copy.  Uncommon.  $650

"The Manchester Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculating Machine has been devised and constructed to undertake a wide variety of complex calculations which would take human beings, using ordinary methods, possibly months to carry out, where the machine takes only an our or so. The human controller has to decide how to Calculating Machine can perform the desired calculation, and draws up a list of "instructions" for it to obey. He breaks up the complex calculation into a series of simple basic operations and translates these from numbers into a specified code. The list of "instructions" is fed into the machine, and the initial numbers (in code) on which it is to operate are then loaded into a special position. All the information having been fed into the Calculating Machine, its "memory" can be switched on to start operations. When the machine has worked out the whole problem, a red light switches on and it stops automatically. The final result can then be read off the monitor cathode-ray tube (shown in our photograph) in the form of light dots which are translated into figures by the human controller. A photograph of the complete apparatus appears elsewhere in this issue."

Eckert's Popular Treatment on How a Computer Works, 1948

Eckert, Wallace J.  "Electrons and Computation".  In:  The Scientific Monthly, November 1948.  Occupies pp 314-323, including one full-page photo of the IBM SSEC, a half-page photo of the arithmetic unit of the SSEC, and a number of other, smaller images.  Offered in the bound volume for July-December, 1948, 448pp.  All  six issues have their original wrappers bound in.  Very nice copy, with a few ex-library marks here and there.  $350

The Big Bang, 1949

Gamow, Alpher, Bethe,  "The Origin of the Chemical Elements".  Published by American Physical Society,  in The Physical Review, vol 73, (April 1)  and found in the bound April-July 1948 volume.  Bound in red  cloth.

We offer the entire volume for the April 1-June 1 1948 period, containing not only the great Gamow paper but others as well, not the least of which is Dirac. This is the background paper for the Big Bang: the great Alpher/Bethe/Gamow paper and all-time insider-bad-joke, coming in the 1 April 1948 issue of the Physical Review. The letter to the editor which announced Gamow's (et alia) theory on background radiation and the formulation of the "Big Bang". This is one of the great discoveries of the century--it didn't have the implications of the (troublesome and tiresome) James Watson's DNA "discovery", but it certainly had other enormous intellectual and philosophical (and scientific of course) ramifications. Alpher, Ralph; George Gamow [& Hans Bethe, for the fictionalized use of his name only, for the capital "Beta", and this ABC paper]. "The Origin of the Chemical Elements". In: Physical Review, 73, Pp 803-804 [1948]. Original green wrappers for all issues bound in. Pristine copies of all papers, all bound in a handsome and stury red cloth. Lovely.  $2,000.00

Deep, Wooden Genetics of the Programmable Computer: the Jacquard Loom, 1888

Emanuel Anthony Posselt  The jacquard machine :  analyzed and explained : with an appendix on the preparation of jacquard cards, and practical hints to learners of jacquard designing.  10x7.5 inches, 127,  p., [2] folded leaves of plates : ill. ; 29 cm.  $1650.  Rare first edition. Published under the auspices of the School [Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art] in Philadelphia, 1888.  Of particular interest is the appendix, "Preparing Jacquard Cards", pp 85-102, which in effect is a description of an 18th century programmable machine. 

“Extremely detaiuled description…of machines for preparing Jacquard cards, lavishly illustrated”—Randell, p. 501. (In:  Brian Randell, The Computer from Pascal to von Neuman, 2^nd edition, 1992). 

“Particularly useful for understanding how the cards were used, often considered as an early form of machine programming”. –Cortada, #330.  In:  James W. Cortada, Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956.  Princeton University Press, 1999. 

Biographical Data for Posselt, published in 1900

     Author and textile expert. Born Reichenberg, Austria August 21, 1858. Son of

Emanuel Anthony and Elizabeth (Demuth) Posselt.  Graduated in 1876 from the Imperial Government Weaving Schoolof  Reichenberg. Next managed his father’s mills in Reichenberg, where he got his  first practical experience in textile manufacturing. Visited most important cities  in Europe carrying on the manufacture of textiles.  Came to the United States August 14, 1878. From that time until 1884 he was employed as a designer or supervisor in leading mills in the New England States and Pennsylvania.  In 1884 he became the first director of the first successful textile school in the  United States, started in Philadelphia in connection with the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art.  . In 1891, he resigned his position and accepted editorship of the Textile Record of North America, as of 1900 the foremost journal on textile manufacturing in the United States.  At this time he established a private textile school as well as a book businessin textile literature. His first published work was The Jacquard Machine (4 editions as of 1900). His next and most important publication was The Technology of Textile Design (7 editions as of 1900), followed by The Structure of Fibres, Yarns and Fabrics. He also published Textile Calculations and Textile Machinery. He also published in the United States such valuable works as Wool Dyeing by Professor Gardner (written in England).  He was editor for the textile department in Funk & Wagnalls’ Standard Dictionary and numerous other works. His books are the standard authorities in this country on the subjects which they treat, and have equal status in England, where they have been republished.

See the full-text pdf version of the work at:

• The Jacquard Machine Analyzed and Explained (1888) by Emanuel Anthony Posselt   http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/pea_jacq_1.pdf

From the library of Senator John Pastore (D-RI), (1904-1997), the first Italian-American elected to the US Senate (1950).   Bound in a workman’s blue buckram—not a pretty binding by any stretch—though internally in nice condition.  The binding is functional though this is a fine candidate for a nice rebinding. 

"This extensively illustrated work is the most detailed published account of the design and operation of the Jacquard loom, on which Jacquard himself appears to have never published any details. It includes an excellent description of the punched cards. The book includes a brief history of the Jacquard loom, a detailed description of its mechanism and an appendix on the preparation and stamping of Jacquard cards, illustrated with pictures of the stamping machines. The punched card method of storing and processing data evolved from methods developed by textile manufacturers in the 18th and 19th centuries for weaving complex patterns in cloth." Origins of Cyberspace 355. 

Maurice WIlkes: Programming the EDSAC Computer, 1949

Wilkes, Maurice V.    "Programme design for a high-speed automatic calculating machine." Appearance in the  Journal of Scientific Instruments and of Physics in Industry 26 (June 1949), occupying  217-[220]pp, with a text diagram. 278 x 202 mm. First  edition.

This is Wilke's effort on the programming and operation of the EDSAC computer, appearing more than three months before the computer became operational.  He writes, "A good deal has been written about the design and construction of high-speed automatic calculating machines, but little has been said about the detailed steps which are necessary to prepare a problem for the machine and to obtain a solution-a process which is usually referred to as 'programming'" (p. 217).

Nice fresh copy in the publisher's binding, with a few ex-library marks.  $450

Oskar Morgenstern's Prolegomena to a Theory of Organization

Morgenstern,  Oscar:  Prolegomena to a Theory of Organization;  Santa Monica:  Rand,  1951.    US Air Force Project Rand research Memorandum. 11x8 inches,   122pp.  Original printed wrappers.  Fine condition.       

Rare publication by Morgenstern (1902-1977), the German-born Austrian economist who with John von Neumann founded the  mathematical field of game theory (see von Neumann–Morgenstern utility theorem).  11 copies are located in the OCLC, only three of which are in the U.S. $750.00

• Morgenstern, Oskar; Granger, Clive W. J. (1970). Predictability of stock market prices. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books (D. C. Heath and Company). pp. xxiii+303.

• Oskar Morgenstern, "Thirteen Critical Points in Contemporary Economic Theory: An Interpretation," Journal of Economic Literature 10, no. 4 (December 1972): 1184

• Kemeny, John G.; Morgenstern, Oskar; Thompson, Gerald L. (1956). "A generalization of the von Neumann model of an expanding economy". Econometrica 24: pp. 115-135. MR80573.JSTOR 1905746.

• Morgenstern, Oskar; Thompson, Gerald L. (1976). Mathematical theory of expanding and contracting economies. Lexington Books. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath and Company. pp. xviii+277.

• Oskar Morgenstern Papers at Duke University

Full Metal Jacket, 1918.

ITEM:  oiriginal news photo service photograph, 1918. 8x6 inches.  Very good condition.  $145

I do believe that this is a Lewis Machine Gun, one of the most popularly-used automatic weapons by the BEF (and of American design). It was a gas-operated weapon firing a .30-06 Springfield at 500/600 rpm withan effective range of about a half-mile.  The drum magazine (not present here so far as I can see) held 47 and 97 rounds.  These soldiers were all business.

 

Maurice Frechet

Frechet,  Maurice.  Les Espaces Abstraits et leur theorie consideree comme introduction a l'analyse generale.  Paris:  Gauthier-Villars,  1928.  1st edition.  Collection de Monographies sur la Theorie des Fonctions  Original printed wrappers.  Very fine condition, lovely copy.  $165.00

Henri Poincare--4 items

Poincare, Henri.  Calcul des Probabilities.  Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1912.  Second edition, "revue et augmentee".  333pp.  Original printed wrappers.  Fine copy, lovely.  $250

Poincare,  Henri.  The Principles of Mathematical Physics.  The Monist,  1905 (January).  1st edition.  24pp  Original printed wrappers.  Good or better condition.  This is the rare offprint from The Monist for January 1905 of Henri Poincare's famous paper, coming just prior to the Annus Mirablis Einstein papers on Special Relativity later in the year. (1905 was a very good year for physics).

CONDITION NOTES The scarce wrappers here are present but detached and split at the spine. The entire textblock is becoming almost entirely disbound, hanging on to itself just barely. There are also a few chips in the wrapper covers front and back. This is no doubt in need of conservation, and our price reflects that need. Still, though, it is a bright copy and is not as scary I think as I've described.

HISTORICAL NOTES  Poincare, in his opening address to the Paris Congress in 1900, asked "Does the ether really exist?"  In 1904 Poincare came very close to the theory of special relativity in an address to the International Congress of Arts and Science in St Louis. He pointed out that observers in different frames will have clocks which will ... mark what on may call the local time. ... as demanded by the relativity principle the observer cannot know whether he is at rest or in absolute motion. The year that special relativity finally came into existence was 1905. June of 1905 was a good month for papers on relativity, on the 5th June Poincare communicated an important work Sur la dynamique de l'electron while Einstein's first paper on relativity was received on 30th June. Poincare stated that It seems that this impossibility of demonstrating absolute motion is a general law of nature. After naming the Lorentz transformations after Lorentz, Poincare shows that these transformations, together with the rotations, form a group.   (Book ID 23234) $1,450.00

Poincare,  Jules Henri.  The Principles of Mathematical Physics.  Chicago:  Open Court Publishing Company,  1905.  The Monist, Vol XV, No. 1, January, 1905  Pp 1-160  8vo.  Original printed wrappers.  Good or better condition.  Ex-library.  This is the entire issue of The Monist for January 1905, with the Poincare paper occupying pp 1-25, complete with the original wrappers--it is, however, removed from a larger bound volume and does stand for binding. This said, this is an extremely uncommon version of this significant paper, coming as it does just prior to the Annus Mirablis Einstein papers on Special Relativity later in the year. (1905 was a very good year for physics). Again, this is the entire 160pp issue of this journal, and is ex-library from the U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington DC).

CONDITION NOTES The original wrappers are still in decent shape, as they were printed on a considerably heavier stock than is normally found. The text of the paper has a few problems here and there, though the most significant is some bumping and tearing along teh top edges of the middle thirty pages or so. (This is probably worse-sounding than it is in real life). That said, this is still a solid GOOD copy, if not better.   $250.00

Poincare,  Henri.  The Present and the future of Mathematical Physics.  MacMillan Company,  1906.  Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 12, Number 5, Feb 1  PPp 241-269  Slightly ex-library.  Fine copy, unusually so, in the original wrappers. One library tamp on front cover, otherwise lovely.  We offer the entire issue pp 223-271. This is another version of the original 1904 report at St. Louis and its publication in The Monist of 1905. It has some interesting early comments about relativity including the following brief definition. "The principle of relativity, according to which the laws of physical phenomena must be the same for a stationary observer as for one carried along in a uniform motion of translation, so that we have no means, and can have none, of determining whether or not we are being carried along in such a motion."   (Book ID 23232) $350.00

The Computer Issue, 1953

The article disucussed here occupies the following part of the mammoth 1200pp (and twelve-pound) half-yearly issue of the Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 1953 [1A]-80a [advertisements], [2-table contents], 1219-1568, 81a-192a [ads] pages, Volume 41, October 1953, No. 10.  Very nice condition, bound in cloth. $350  The issue contains 41 articles on the leading edge of electronic computing knowledge, including works by Claude Shannon, Grace Hopper, John Mauchly, Wilkes, Eckert and many others. Some of the most significant include:

Buchholz, Werner. "The system design of the IBM Type 701 computer" (describing the overall system design of IBM’s first electronic digital computer).

Burks, Arthur and Wright, Jesse B. "Theory of logical nets".

Elbourn & Witt, "Dynamic Circuit Techniques Used in SEAC and DYSEAC".

Frizzell, Clarence E. "Engineering description of the IBM Type 701 computer

Greenwald, Sidney; Haueter, R. C.; and Alexander, S. N. "SEAC".

Hopper, Grace and Mauchly, John. "Influence of programming technique on the design of computers".

Huskey, Ambrose and Yowell, "The SWAC design features and operating experience".

Palevsky, "The Design of the Bendix Digital Differential Analyzer".

Samuel, Computing Bit by Bit or Digital Computers Made Easy".

Shannon, Claude. "Computers and Automata".

Shannon and Moore, Edward F. "Machine aid for switching circuit design".

Wilkes," Can Machines Think?"

Among the machines described here include the Remington Rand Type 409-2 Electronic Computer; The System Design of the IBM Type 701 Computer; Engineering Description of the IBM Type 701 Computer; The Arithmetic Element of the IBM Type 701 Computer; The SWAC - design features and operating experience; SEAC; Electronic Circuits of the NAREC Computer; A Myriabit Magnetic Core Matrix Memory; A Survey of Analog-to-Digital Converters, and more.