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Kuenzig Books

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The Sceptical Chymist : or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes

The Sceptical Chymist : or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the EXPERIMENTS whereby VULGAR SPAGIRISTS Are wont to Endeavor to Evince their SALT, SULPHUR and MERCURY, to be True Principles of Things. To which in this Edition are subjoyn’d divers Experiments and Notes about the Producibleness of Chymical Principles

Boyle, Robert Second Edition. Two works bound in one volume. A^8a^2; B-Z^8;Aa-Ee^8;Ff^4; *^8;**^4;A^4 B-R^8;S^4; [20], 440 pp., [28], 268 pp. 8vo. Modern calf to period style with simple ruling and tooling. Spine in five compartments with simple label "BOYLE's SCEPTICAL CHYMIST." Generally bright and clean internally. Occasional short closed tears to top edges from flipping pages and page corners creased throughout. This copy with signature of "Saml. Gray 1780" at head of title page with note "By the Hon Robert Boyle" written under "Things" also on the title page. In (Sceptical Chymist) leaf F1 is misfolded, and leaf T1 has a small burn hole affecting a few letters. In (Experiments and Notes) there is a small paper hole in leaf *8, marginal tears and creases in leaves I6, K1, and M3 (the latter affecting a few letters with no loss of meaning) and some marginal inked manuscript annotationsin an unknown hand on pages 185, 187, 196-7, 199, and 214. Boards. The first edition of the Sceptical Chymist was published in 1661. The second edition [as here] was published in 1680 with the addition of a new work Experiments and Notes. Experiments and Notes has it's own sub-title page and pagination. This copy does not have the very rare advertisement page noting the work was printed in 1679 but not offered for sale until January of 1680. "The Sceptical Chymist is concerned with the relations between chemical substances rather than with transmiting one metal into another or the manufacture of drugs. In this sense the book must be considered as one of the most significant milesetones on the way to the chemical revolution of Lavoisier in the late eighteenth century." (PMM, p84) "The age of modern chemistry began with Robert Boyle, the Irish chemist. His most important work was the sceptical chymist.which contains hist definition of an element which has come down unchanged to the present.The first edition [1661] is so rare that it is literally unobtainable. The second edtiion of the sceptical chymist (1680) is also a rarity. It has been included in the Collection because it contains nearly twice as much material as the first edition. Here Boyle set down his corpuscular theoruy of the constitution of matter, which finally freed chemistry from the restrictions of the Greek concept of the four elements, and was the forerunner of Dalton's atomic theory." (Sparrow, p17) LITERATURE: Fulton, John F., "A Bibliography of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Second edition", Oxford: At the Clarendon Press: 1961. #34 (pp 28-29). Sparrow, Milestones of Science, Buffalo Society of National Sciences, #26 Carter and Muir, Printing and the Mind of Men, 2nd edition, Pressler: Munchen, 1983, #141 (the following referring to the first edition of 1661) Horblit, One Hundred Books Famous in Science, The Grolier Club: New York, # 14 Dibner, Bern, "Heralds of Science, Burndy Library: Norwalk, Conn: 1955, #39.
  • $16,500
  • $16,500
Programming a Computor [sic - Computer] for Playing Chess [reproduced offprint on 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inch paper]

Programming a Computor [sic – Computer] for Playing Chess [reproduced offprint on 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inch paper]

Shannon, Claude E. [Elwood] Later printing. [1], [1-blank], 256-275 pages. 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches. A reproduced copy of the original Philosophical Magazine printed on oversized legal paper. Double stapled upper left corner. An odd copy, as some of the pages are reproduced on normal copier paper (with ghosting showing these were made from regular size paper copies), and some pages on a fax paper copy. Wraps. This paper was first presented at the National IRE Convention, March 9, 1949, in New York. "The Philosophical Magazine," Ser. 7, Vol 41, March 1950 (pp. 256-275) first published this paper. Offered here as a reproduced copy of the original offprint, from Shannon's files. Levy, in his "Computer Chess Compendium," states, "This chapter serves as a historical introduction to the remainder of the volume. The very first paper, Shannon's seminal work dating back to 1949 [ Paper 1.1 in Levy's book ], was first presented as a lecture on March 9th of that year to the National Convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers in New York. Shannon pioneered computer chess as we know it today, and his ideas have been employed in almost every chess program ever written." (introduction) "The first technical paper on computer chess." (Origins of Cyberspace) "In their paper on 'Chess-playing programs and the problem of complexity,' Newell, Shaw, and Simon had this to say about Shannon's paper: 'The relevant history [of chess-playing programs] begins with a paper by Claude Shannon in 1949. He did not present a particular chess program but discussed many of the basic problems involved. The framework he introduces has guided most of the subsequent analysis of the problem . The basic framework introduced by Shannon for thinking about chess problems consists of a series of questions: 1. Alternatives. Which alternative moves are to be considered? 2. Analysis. a. Which continuations are to be explored and to what depth? b. How are positions to be evaluated strategically - in terms of their patterns? c. How are the static evaluations to be integrated into a single value for an alternative? 3. Final choice procedure. What procedure is to be used to select the final preferred move? We would hazard that Shannon's paper is chiefly remembered for the specific answers he proposed to these questions: consider all alternatives; search all continuations to a fixed depth, n; evaluate with a numerical sum; minimax to get the effective value for an alternative; and then pick the best one (Newell and Simon, 1963 p 42-44)" (Origins of Cyberspace quoting Feigenbaum pp 39-70) PROVENANCE: The personal files of Claude E. Shannon. There were multiple examples of this item in Shannon's files. REFERENCES: Sloane and Wyner, "Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers," #54 Hook and Norman, "Origins of Cyberspace," #882 Levy, David: "Computer Chess Compendium," Springer-Verlag: 1988. (Paper 1.1) Feigenbaum, E. A. and Feldman, J. "Computers and Thought" (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963).
  • $55
Prediction and Entropy of Printed English [Bell Monograph]

Prediction and Entropy of Printed English [Bell Monograph]

Shannon, C. E. [Claude Elwood] First Separate Edition. 15, [1-blank] pages. 10 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches (275 x 213 mm). Publisher's printed grey, blue and black wrappers. Stapled, with five holes punched at the spine as issued. Printed on a non-coated paper. Wraps. Presented at the Northern New Jersey Sub-Section of the Institute of Radio Engineers, Murray Hill, New Jersey, March 15, 1950. The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 30, pp. 50-64, January 1951 first published this paper, here offered as Bell Telephone Systems Monograph (#1819, March 1951), presumed to be the first separate edition. "A new method of estimating the entropy and redundancy of a language is described. This method exploits the knowledge of the language statistics possessed by those who speak the language and depends on experimental results in the prediction of the next letter when the preceding text is known. Results of experiments in prediction are given, and some properties of an ideal predictor are developed." (abstract) An oft-cited paper with applications in data compression and cryptography. PROVENANCE: The personal files of Claude E. Shannon (unmarked). There were four complete examples of this paper in Shannon's files and one damaged example. This is the last clean example. REFERENCES: Sloane and Wyner, "Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers," #69 Reprinted in D. Slepian, editor, "Key Papers in the Development of Information Theory," IEEE Press, NY, 1974, pp 42-46. COLLECTORS NOTE: The Bell Telephone System Monograph series offered a way to obtain individual articles by Bell scientists regardless of where their work was first published. Many Monographs significantly postdate the original article publication. Because of this, they rarely constitute the coveted (and traditional) article offprint. If the journal of record issued no offprint, the Monograph might be the first separate publication - the closest the collector can come to a traditional offprint. We have done our best to place each Monograph properly in the article's publishing history and welcome any corrections or additional information, especially regarding issues unknown to us.
  • $660
Programming a Computor [sic - Computer ] for Playing Chess [offprint]

Programming a Computor [sic – Computer ] for Playing Chess [offprint]

Shannon, Claude E. [Elwood] First Separate Edition. [1], 256-275, [1-blank] pages. 9 15/16 x 6 3/4 inches. Self-wrappers stapled and glued. The five examined offprints [as here] have been oddly but consistently constructed. The first leaf (wrapper title) is tipped onto a gathering formed by pages 257-272 (signed 'U'). Pages 273-276 (276 is blank) are formed by folding a single sheet once and tipping that unsigned gathering to the verso of the ‘U' gathering. Soft creases to the offprint, still a near fine copy of a fragile item. The offprint wrapper title introduced a typographical error: "Programming a Computor (sic) for playing chess" - mis-spelling Computer. On the verso (the first page of the paper), the title is correct. Wraps. This paper was first presented at the National IRE Convention, March 9, 1949, in New York. "The Philosophical Magazine," Ser. 7, Vol 41, March 1950 (pp. 256-275) first published this paper. Here offered in the rare offprint form. Levy, in his "Computer Chess Compendium," states, "This chapter serves as a historical introduction to the remainder of the volume. The very first paper, Shannon's seminal work dating back to 1949 [ Paper 1.1 in Levy's book ], was first presented as a lecture on March 9th of that year to the National Convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers in New York. Shannon pioneered computer chess as we know it today, and his ideas have been employed in almost every chess program ever written." (introduction) "The first technical paper on computer chess." (Origins of Cyberspace) "In their paper on 'Chess-playing programs and the problem of complexity,' Newell, Shaw, and Simon had this to say about Shannon's paper: 'The relevant history [of chess-playing programs] begins with a paper by Claude Shannon in 1949. He did not present a particular chess program but discussed many of the basic problems involved. The framework he introduces has guided most of the subsequent analysis of the problem . The basic framework introduced by Shannon for thinking about chess problems consists of a series of questions: 1. Alternatives. Which alternative moves are to be considered? 2. Analysis. a. Which continuations are to be explored and to what depth? b. How are positions to be evaluated strategically - in terms of their patterns? c. How are the static evaluations to be integrated into a single value for an alternative? 3. Final choice procedure. What procedure is to be used to select the final preferred move? We would hazard that Shannon's paper is chiefly remembered for the specific answers he proposed to these questions: consider all alternatives; search all continuations to a fixed depth, n; evaluate with a numerical sum; minimax to get the effective value for an alternative; and then pick the best one (Newell and Simon, 1963 p 42-44)" (Origins of Cyberspace quoting Feigenbaum pp 39-70) PROVENANCE: The personal files of Claude E. Shannon. One of five complete examples in Shannon's files. REFERENCES: Sloane and Wyner, "Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers," #54 Hook and Norman, "Origins of Cyberspace," #882 Levy, David: "Computer Chess Compendium," Springer-Verlag: 1988. (Paper 1.1) Feigenbaum, E. A. and Feldman, J. "Computers and Thought" (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963).
  • $8,800
  • $8,800
The MICROSCOPE made easy : or

The MICROSCOPE made easy : or, I. The nature, uses, and magnifying powers of the best kinds of microscopes described, calculated, and explained: For the Instruction of such, particularly, as desire to search into the Wonders of the Minute Creation, tho’ they are not acquainted with Optics. Together with Full Directions how to prepare, apply, examine, and preserve, all Sorts of Objects, and proper Cautions to be observed in viewing them. II. An account of what surprizing discoveries have been already made by the microscope: With useful Reflections on them. And also a great variety of new experiments and observations, pointing out many uncommon Subjects for the Examination of the Curious. . llustrated with Copper Plates .The Second Edition With an additional plate of the Solar Microscope, and some farther Accounts of the POLYPE

Second Edition. [2],xvi, [1]-98, [4], 99-311,[13-indices] pages. Pages 307 through index with stain in inner margins affecting text in a few places. With 14 numbered plates (I through XIV) plus the unnumbered folding plate of the solar microscope plus and one folding table. Eleven of the plates are folding. 8vo. Speckled calf rebacked to style with red/gilt spine label. Preserved endpapers and boards. Previous owners on front endpapers: "Ex Lib i.Poulin Med. Monspeliensis(?)" (inked), C. M. Gabriel (bookplate and stamp), and Barnett Cohen (stamp). Old paper snippet affixed to front endpaper with cellotape (bio of Henry Baker). Old pagination in pencil on rear pastedown. Red speckled pages edges. Bright and clean internally, much better than usually found. Boards. A beautifully illustrated work on the microscope and its uses. One of several works by Baker on the microscope. J. Cuf (John Cuff) was an optician who worked from 1731-1771 and was recognized for making significant contributions to the evolution of the microscope. Henry Baker was a patron of Cuff, lending him money on more than one occasion. The previous owner Barnett Cohen worked worked professionally as a bacteriologist, conducting the first ultra-microscopic surgeries. He was also an enthusiast of and published several articles on Leeuwenhoek (Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek FRS was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as "the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists. - Wikipedia) The first edition of this title was published in 1742. This second edition and subsequent editions had the extra folding plate of the solar microscope not present in the first edition. LITERATURE: Austin and Blankenhorn, "A Preliminary Checklist of Books Relating to Microscopes and Microscopy", The Gemmary: Redondo Beach, CA: 1993 (p. 6) Clifton's "Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers" Bradbury, "Evolution of the Microscope" for information on Cuff and his developments in microscopy.
The Empty Quarter

The Empty Quarter, Being a Description of the Great South Desert of Arabia Known as Rub’ al Khali

First American Edition. xxiv, 433, [1] pages. 8vo. Publisher's blue cloth with black spine lettering. Four previous owner indications on front endpapers (gift inscription from 1936, ex-libris bookplate, signature and one other). Front hinge cracked with webbing showing but still sound. Corners bumped, some light overall wear to the binding. Foldout plate of the Meteorite craters opposite page 180, and two folding maps in rear of Arabia. Remnants of front flap laid in, lacking the balance of the original dust jacket as normal. Illustrated throughout with mechanically reproduced photographs from the journey. Cloth. First published in London in the same year. "The description of Mr. Philby's remarkable journey through the Great Desert of Southern Arabia, admirably told, is a fascinating narrative of ninety days of travel in the most inhspitable regions of a barrent land. By far the greater part of the 1,800 miles of his route lay through distribcts never scientifically explored, and only known to the wandering camel owners and raiders of the waste. For the last 350 miles he and his hardy companions dared a region unknown even to his Arab guides, and in nine days cross the most lifeless and waterless regions of 'The Empty Quarter' for the first time in history from east to west.The expedition took great risks in its defiance of a region which the very ravens deserted. But their courageous endurance, and the quality of their splendid camels from Oman, brought them through.Mr. Philby has crowed fourteen years of travel and study with one of the boldest feats in the enthralling history of Arabian exploration." . The Empty Quarter brings to the armchair adventurer with breath-taking immediacy the vivid reality of the expedition" (from the front flap) "Harry St John Bridger Philby, CIE (3 April 1885 - 30 September 1960), also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah, was a British Arabist, adviser, explorer, writer, and a colonial intelligence officer who served as an advisor to King Abdulaziz al-Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia." (Wikipedia).
Planetarium News Issues 1-5 and 7 with ALS

Planetarium News Issues 1-5 and 7 with ALS

First Edition. Five issues. Self-wrappers, pagination as below. 11 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches. Printed text, stapled with light blue linen tape at spine as issued. A few blemishes here and there, but very clean copies overall. Black and white and occasional color plates. Issues included: Jan 1960, No 1.; [1]-24 pages. July 1960, No 2.; [25]-54 pages Jan 1961, No 3.; [55]-78 pages. Oct 1961, No 4; 79-118 pages. July 1962, No. 5; [119]-156 pages. 2nd series - June 1964, No 7 (published October 1964); [27]-56 pages. With handwritten letter to "Dr. [H] Werner" from the monthly astronomical feature writer of the Natural History Magazine of the American Museum (Simone Daro Gossner??) noting with interest Werner's series on mythological sky images and asking if he could obtain a microfilm of part of Werner's collection for use in the magazine. Wraps. The preface to the first issue, January 1960, no 1 notes: "During the period from January 15, 1940 to July 1, 1944 there appeared fifteen issues of Plaentarium News. The first of that series contained an introduction which read as follows: 'Planetarium News which will be published approximately four times each year, proposes to gather worthwhile information about all phases of planetarium activities, and to make this information available to interested parties. The reports will cover new developments with respect to instruments, buildings, administration, demonstration techniques and literature. Through them planetaria will be given the opportunity of exchanging their varied operational results and experiences. To this end the directors of planetaria are invited to make use of this arrangement from their mutual advantage.' The goals of the present series [as here] are exactly thsoe expressed above, and to aid in their achievement the series will be published in English as well as in German.'" Surprisingly rare, with OCLC/Worldcate reporting only three institutions holding copies in this series, all in Germany.
book (2)

Assay of Plasma Insulin in Human Subjects by Immunological Methods” [Contained in:] Nature, Vol 184, No 4699, pp 1648-49

First Edition. [2], V-VI, 1595-1670 pp. 10 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches. Modern black cloth, printed paper spine label. Bookplate of Andras Gedeon on front pastedown. Cloth. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977 was divided, one half jointly to Roger Guillemin and Andrew V. Schally "for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain" and the other half to Rosalyn Yalow "for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones.Rosalyn Yalow was a nuclear physicist. She developed radioimmunoassay (RIA) together with doctor Solomon Berson. RIA is used to measure small concentrations of substances in the body, such as hormones in the blood. Yalow and Berson tracked insulin by injecting radioactive iodine into patients' blood. Because the method is so precise, they were able to prove that type 2 diabetes is caused by the body's inefficient use of insulin. Previously it was thought that the disease was caused by a lack of insulin." (Nobel Prize Org) The most often referenced paper by Yalow and Berson is their 1960 paper (see below) published in JCI "where for the first time they described the pattern and quantity of insulin released in response to ingestion of sugar. The paper included data for normal subjects Type II diabetics, and patients with a variety of other disorders.This long paper contains many important discoveries." (Straus, p 151) "It is not surprising that the 1960 article "Immunoassay of endogenous plasma insulin in man" by Yalow and Berson holds a record as one of the most cited articles ever published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.While a skeptic might note that most of the frequently cited articles in the literature are focused on methodology, in this case, while the paper superficially appears to be only a description of a method to assay insulin, it actually marks a revolution in biology and medicine.Immunoassays provided a method by which minute quantities of virtually any biologically interesting moldecules present in blood or other fluids could be measure with sensitivity and specificity, even in the presence of hundreds of thousands of other substances.they successfully applied the technique of immunoassay to the analysis of many other hormones and substances, leading to breakthrough insights into multiple disease states." (Kahn and Roth, p 1051) We believe [the present paper] is a fundamental building block because it was a pre-cursor to the 1960 work, showing for the first time that insulin could be measured in human (rather than animal) blood. "It took Yalow and Berson several years of work, including detailed studies and mathematical models of the quantitative aspects of the reaction between insulin and antibody, and evaluation of the species specificity of available antisera that they had raised in guinea pigs and rabbits, before theoretical concepts of the RIA method could be translated into measurements of circulating insulin. They honed the technique with measurements of beef and other animal insulinis using antibody in the plasma of their human subjects. Finally, in their 1959 paper that appeared in Nature [as here] they were measuring the insulin in human blood." (Straus, p151) It is interesting to note that the establishment found their work to be implausible: "Immunologists of the mid 1950s did not believe that insulin was immunogenic - hence the JCI rejection." of a 1955 a paper Yalow and Berson submitted to JCI that laid the groundwork for the insulin immunoassay was rejected for publication. "[Yalow] was the second woman (after Gerty Cori), and the first American-born woman, to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. "("Wikipedia") "First radioimmunoassay of a hormone, a test capable of estimating nonogram or even picogram quantities. For this technique Yalow shared the 1977 Nobel Prize with R. Guillemin and A. Schally." (GM 2578.28 refering to the 1960 paper) PROVENANCE: Author Andras Gedeon's copy with his bookplate on the front pastedown. LITERATURE: Norman, Jeremy, Morton's Medical Bibliography, (Garrison-Morton) 5th edition, Scolar Press: 1993. (referring to the J. Clin Invest. 1960 paper 'Immunoassay of endogenous plasma insulin in man" paper) Gedeon, Andras, "Science and Technology in Medicine: An Illustrated Account Based on Ninety-nine Landmark Publications from Five Centuries", #81.14 (p 421) Kahn and Roth, "Berson, Yalow, and the JCI: the agony and the ecstasy", J. Clin. Invest. Vol 114, No 8 Straus, Eugene, "Rosalyn Yalow, Nobel Laureate Her Life and Work in Medicine", Perseus Books: Cambridge, MA (note: we have included printouts of the 1960 paper, Kahn and Roth's article, and relevant pages from the Straus work for the next owner's reference).
Fisica de' Corpi Ponderabili ossia Trattato della Costituzione Generale de' Corpi del Cavaliere

Fisica de’ Corpi Ponderabili ossia Trattato della Costituzione Generale de’ Corpi del Cavaliere

Four volumes, each uniformly bound in 1/4 leather over marbled boards. Flat spines with labels in green and brown (now faded). Gilt titles and ruling. Volume 1 with minor worming to the base of the rear panel resulting in some separation of the leather at the joint. Volume 2 with some bumping to the board edges and a touch of worming at the base of the front panel. Volume 3 with some worming damage to the front hinge at the head. All are fundmentally sound. Bookplate of Prof. Giovanni Ferraris on front pastedown of each volume. Vol. 1: [4], [I-IV], [V]-XXXI, [1], 1-910 pages plus nine folding plates. (published 1837) Vol. 2: [4], V-XV, [1], 1-980 pages plus 5 folding plates. One plate with marginal tear. (published 1838) Vol. 3: [4], V-XIII, [1], 1-932 pages plus two folding plates. (published 1840) Vol. 4: [4], V-XIII, [1], 1-926, [2-blank], LIII, [1] pages plus two folding plates plus [1-con permissione],[1-blank] pages. (published 1841) Complete. Boards. "A MONUMENTAL TREATISE and the only major publication of Avogadro (1776-1856). It contains most of his important researches on the properties of mattere, crystallography, heat, sound, etc. One of the founders of physical chemistry in the early nineteenth century, Avogadro is remembered for the law (then called a hypothesis) that states: "Equal volumes of all gases under the same conditions of temperature and pressure contain the same number of molecules." This law provided a much-needed key to the solution of the composition and properties of gases. Avogadro showed that by applying his theory, chemists could discover the numbers of atoms in molecules, and then the atomic weights could be calculated from the ratio of combining masses. The present work contains a very substantial enlargement of Avogadro's famous memoir, first published in 1811 in the 'Journal de Physique' in which he promulgated his hypothesis. Originally educated as a lawyer, in 1800 he became interested in mathematics and physics. avogadro was impressed by the rencet discoveries of Alessandro Volta, and Avogadro's first scientific research (with his brother Felice) was on electricity in 1803. One of the great milestones of chemical literature, complete sets are very rare." (Neville, Vol 1, p52) "Avogadro's treatise contains an account of his famous hypothesis that the number of molecules in a gas is always proportional to the volume. Avogadro's hypothesis allowed molecular weights to be determined directly, as the relative weights of the molecules of any two gases are the same as the ratios of the densities of thse two gases under equal conditions. Avogadro introduced this hypothesis in his 'Essai d'une maniere de determiner les masses relatives des molecules elementairs des corps, et les proportions selon lesquelles elles entrent dans ces combinations.' published in Vol. 73 of the Journal de Physique (1811)" (Norman, #89) Provenance: Sotheby's Nov 09, 2011 Books and Manuscripts (sold for $10,000 Euros) Literature: Neville, Roy, "The Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, An Annotated Catalogue of Printed Books on Alchemy, Chemistry Chemical Technology, and Related Subjects", Chemical Heritage Foundation: Philadelphia,2006 Hook, Diana H. & Norman,Jeremy, "The Haskell F. Norman Library of Science and Medicine", Jeremy Norman & Co, Inc.: San Francisco, 1991. Neville reference notes (we can provide specifics if you wish): Not in Smith, Wellcome, etc Bolton, 276; D. S.B., I, 350; Duveen Supplement 21; Edelstein, 111,; Partington, IV, 216; Roller & Goodman, I , 63). (Neville).
book (2)

The Index of Coincidence and Its Applications in Cryptography : Publication No. 22 WITH L’indice de coïncidence et ses applications en cryptographie Publication No 22 (Traduction Francaise). [together 2 Volumes, Riverbank Publication]

First Edition. Publication No 22 (English): 87 pages; WITH Publication No 22 (French): 91 pages. Together 2 volumes. Lacks the rare English and French 8 page appendix inserts. Publisher's stiff tan wrappers with black printed front cover duplicating title page. Hinges reinforced with white linen tape (as issued). Self wraps, printed titles in black on front cover. Clean copies with a touch of wear and edgewear, and minor browning to the extremities. English edition has creasing to the rear cover and has been read (some spine slant). Wraps. A restricted publication not available to the public at the time of issue, it appears in a few institutional collections, but is rarely found on the market. 'Riverbank Publication No. 22, written in 1920 when Friedman was 28, must be regarded as the MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE PUBLICATION IN CRYPTOLOGY. It took the science into a new world.it described the solution of two complicated cipher systems. Friedman however, was less interested in proving their vulnerability than he was in using them as a vehicle for new methods of cryptanalysis. Fabyan had the pamphlet printed in France in 1922 to save money. General Cartier saw it and thought so highly of it that he had it translated and published forthwith - false-dating it "1921" to make it appear as if the French work had come first! In it, Friedman devised two new techniques. One was brilliant. It permitted him to reconstruct a primary cipher alphabet without having to quess at a single plainletter text. But the other was profound. For the first time in cryptology, Friedman treated a frequency distribution as an entity, as a curve whose several points were causally related, not as just a collection of individual letters that happen to stand in a certain order for noncausal (historical) reasons, and to this curve he applied statistical concepts. The results can only be described as Promethean, for Friedman's stroke of genius inspired the numerous, varied, and vital statistical tools that are indispensable to the cryptology of today. . This is why Friedman has said, in looking back over his career, that The Index of Coincidence was his greatest single creation. It alone would have won him his reputation. But in fact it was only the beginning.' (Kahn) Authorship attribution from Galland. Galland also notes 'This work bears imprint 1922, but antedates the French translation noted below [1921]; reprinted later but also with imprint 1922. The study was completed in 1920.' Galland also notes Riverbank Laboratories as the imprint - we've chosen to note the imprint as it appears on the actual item. See J.S. Galland, An Historical and Analytical Bibliography of Cryptology, page 68. See also Kahn, The CodeBreakers, 1996, p376-384, Shulman, An Annotated Bibliography of Cryptography, 1976, pp 84-5 (noting that the French translation was by General Cartier rather than arranged by him, and noting that both were printed in Paris by Col. Fabyan as anonymous publications).
Some 19th Century English Woodworking Tools : Edge and Joiner Tools and Bit Braces

Some 19th Century English Woodworking Tools : Edge and Joiner Tools and Bit Braces

Later printing. xvi, 494 pages. 4to. 9 x 11 inches. Publisher's maroon cloth gilt with grey dust jacket printed in red and black. A bright and clean cop noting a few blemishes to the dust jacket Includes Appendices. Cloth. The first edition, first printing of 750 copies (printed in 1980) sold out. This is the second printing from 1991. "The successes in edge tool manufacturing at Sheffield followed the cutlery industry and production of high carbon cast steel. Birmingham had been the leading center of both edge and joiner tool production prior to the last half of the 18th century. This book relates how these industries shifted to Sheffield where prominence resulted in the early 1820s. Historical growth of the leading Sheffield firms is recorded. The important influence of the Sheffield Illustrated Lists is noted. Liberal illustration is made of many designs of edge and joiner tools. Patents and Registered Designs of such tools are discussed. Directory advertisements note the major firms and their products. The graceful symmetry of many of these tools, combined with attractive woods resulted in a form of industrial art unequaled. Without understanding the history of these English tools it is not possible to appreciate the development of American tools. Check lists of Sheffield joiner and edge tools, Birmingham and Sheffield brace makers, and Birmingham rule makers permit collectors to date many of these items. This work is the result of six years of study in libraries, museums, and travesl throughout the United Kingdom." (about the book).