Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944. First edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Very Good/Very Good. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF THE FOUNDATIONAL BOOK ON GAME THEORY. IN OUTSTANDING CONDITION. "Probabilists have studied games of chance since the beginning of probability theory. Strategic games, whose outcome depends on the skill of the participants in choosing a strategy of play, received widespread attention among mathematicians and economists only with the publication in 1944 of the first edition of John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern's Theory of Games and Economic Behavior..." (Dimand and Dimand, "The Early History of the Theory of Strategic Games from Waldegrave to Borel", 1992).

In subsequent years, "game theory, it may reasonably be claimed, has proved to be one of the more significant scientific contributions of the twentieth century. Albeit haltingly and unevenly, and in a manner quite unforeseeable in 1944 when the Theory of Games and Economic Behavior was published, it has affected not only economics and political science but also evolutionary biology, ethics, and philosophy proper. Within economics, particular areas such as microeconomic theory, industrial organization, international trade, and experimental economics have all been reshaped under the theory's influence. Although game theory initially came from outside as a critical contribution, it has now been completely embraced by the economics discipline, as indicated by the awarding of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics to John Nash, John Harsányi, and Reinhard Selten in 1994, and to Robert Aumann and Thomas Schelling in 2005." (Robert Leonard, Von Neumann, Morgenstern, and the Creation of Game Theory, 2010.)

Complete with the rare "Corrigenda" slip.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1944. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Book near-fine with just a hint of fading to spine, dust jacket with light edgewear, and a little spine fading (a common problem with this book).

An outstanding copy: The dust jacket is notoriously prone to wear and this example is one of the nicest examples we've seen.