Rare books from Kuenzig Books

Washington, D. C.: The National research Council, 1943. First Edition. Wraps. Near Fine. First Edition. We offer a nearly complete run of this important early computer serial: Numbers 1, 2, 5-59, 66-70, each in the original wrappers as published. Small quarto and octavo sizes, approx 12 inches shelf space. Occasional minor soiling. From the library of Frank M. Verzuh, with his name on some covers. Wraps. MTAC is the first period journal devoted entirely to the literature of computation. The journal had a very small subscription base in the early years. Through 1946, it's subscription list was less than 350 readers. Many were discarded as computing advanced at a rapid pace. As of this writing, Worldcat shows less than 80 institutions with even partial runs. The first volume contains lists and descriptions of printed tables, where they were published, as well as new errors discovered in the published sources. These errors, introduced by humans whose job description were "computers", continued to… Read More

Paris: Chez Crochard, 1820. First Edition. Boards. Very Good. First Edition. 448 pages plus 5 plates (1 folding). 8vo. Contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards with black spine labels. Early label (Coquard a Epinal) on front pastedown. The entire volume of "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", Vol. Quinzieme [XV 15] offered. Surface wear/damage to the leather finish (resulting in minor loss to gilding and top label) and minor fraying to the head/tail spine panel. Small spot of worming inside lower rear board at the gutter. Text generally bright and clean. This volume contains the original journal appearance of the separately issued "Memoires sur l'Action Mutuelle de Deux Courans Electriques" in three sections over two articles (pp. 59-76 & 170-218). Section 1: "De l'Action mutuelle de deux courans electriques" (pages 59-76) continued as "Suite Du Memoire sur l'Action mutuelle entre deux courans electriques, entre un courant electrque et un aimant ou le globe terrestre, et entre deux aimans" on… Read More

Paris: Crochard, 1820. First Edition. Flexible paper boards. Near Fine. First Edition. 448 pages. Early temporary binders paper boards (light blue paper over very thin pasteboard), laid endpapers and stub. Evidence that the textblock was originally stab-stitched and then sewn when the binding was applied. Paper spine label with manuscript titling, and paper label and 2 chalked numbers on the spine. Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Tome XIV complete with half title, entire volume offered. Protected in a 1/4 leather over cloth professionally made clamshell case with gilt spine titling. Flexible paper boards. Contains Oersted's "EXPERIMENTA CIRCA EFFECTUM, etc. Experiences sur l'effet du conflict electrique sur l'aiguille animantee" on pages 417-420, a very important work that led to the Discovery of Electromagnetism and informed subsequent work done by Ampere, Arago, Maxwell and Faraday. Initially published in a rare Latin pamphlet (known to Bern Dibner in only a few copies), this important discovery… Read More

A Paris: Chez Jean Boudot, Jacques Collombay, et Jean Boudot fils rue S. Jacques, 1709. First Edition. Full calf. Very Good. First Edition. [8], 347, [6] pages + 28 plates. 8vo. Full calf binding with red spine label, raised bands and gilt decorations. Light rubbing to leather, stain to front leather lower right. Speckled edges. Previous owner name scratched out on front flyleaf. Bookplate of "D. de Romand" on front pastedown. Occasional early ink underlining and marginal highlights with occasional manuscript notation in a neat hand. Full calf. A first edition of this exceptional work that went through five editions. Many beautifully illustrated plates (27 finely engraved plates plus an additional map plate). "The best illustrated account of the scientific instruments in use at the beginning of the XVIIIth centry, including the compass of proportion, surveying and astronomical instruments, the micrometer, a machine showing solar and lunar eclipses, etc. The whole of the VIIth [section] is on the… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1928. First Edition. Cloth. Near Fine. First Edition. IV, [1]-751, [1] pages. 8vo. Later blue cloth with gilt titling "Mathematische Annalen | 100 | 1928" on spine panel. Upper corner of textblock bumped, otherwise bright and clean internally with just a few pencilled notations. Text in German. Cloth. The first and most important paper by von Neumann related to the Theory of Games, where he establishes his minimax theorem and offers the first general proof. A fundamentally important piece of mathematics that has established and/or significantly enhanced many fields, not the least of which is economics. "The first proof of the minimax theorem for two-person games of chance and skill with any finite number of pure strategies was given by John von Neumann (1928) in a paper presented to the Gottingen Mathematical Society on 7 December 1926...John von Neumann deserves the credit for the first general proof of the minimax theorem." (Weintraub, pp 24-25) "...John von Neumann… Read More

Springfield: D. B. Spooner & Co., Photographers, 1858. First Edition. Boards. Very Good. First Edition. Title page and "statistics" (four pages) plus 62 portraits w/tissue guards and interleaved blank leaves (most with signatures or inscriptions from the sitter). Frontispiece engraving of the college signed: "Thos. Chubbuck, Engr. Springfield, Ms." and "Published by J.S. & C. Adams" Statistics leaf signed in print on verso "Samuel Bowles and Company, printers." 4to. 9 1/2 x 12 inches. Decorated leather binding (worn at extremities). "Andrew Josiah Clapp" in gilt on front cover [his album]. "Portraits | Amherst | 1858" in gilt on spine. Two library stamps ("Southampton Public Library") crossed out with no other markings. Photographs are salt prints, oval format, approximately 4 ¾ x 6 inches. Tonality varies, with scattered fading and foxing. Boards. Leaf titled "Statistics" has a list of each student, residence, and when they entered and left college (and if graduated). It also notes that there are… Read More

[London]: [C. Davis, Printer to the Royal Society], 1753. First Edition. Extract. Very Good. First Edition. 565-568 pages. 4to. 19 x 24 cm. (7 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches). An extract from "Philosophical Transactions Giving some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World ... Vol. XLVII For the Years 1751 and 1752...London: Printed for C. Davis, MDCCLIII" The article offered here, "A Letter of Benjamin Franklin, Esq; to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. concerning an electrical Kite" is found on pages 565-567 and is complete. Browned at the edges, leaves separated. Extract. "Until the middle of the eighteenth century electricity was known only in its static form, [often experimentally collected in Leiden jars]...The most dramatic result of [Benjamin Franklin]'s researches was the proof that lightening is really an electrical phenomenon. Others had made such a suggestion before him - even Newton himself - but it was [Franklin] who provided… Read More

[no place of publication stated]: [no publisher stated], [no date stated]. Wraps. Good. [1]-5 pages. 10 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches. Typescript on thin typewriter paper typed on recto only. Stapled upper left. Stained. Two penciled corrections in an unknown hand (one typo, one number correction). The typewriter paper is watermarked "75% Cotton Fibre | Old Badger Bond | by Fox River" on several sheets. Wraps. Apparently published only in the Sloane and Wyner bibliography, this paper describes at a high level what THROBAC I is (THROBAC stands for THrifty ROman-numeral BAckward looking Computer) and what it can do. "Throbac...is a relay desk calculator operating entirely in the Roman numeral system. It performs the four operations addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The controls and method of operation are very similar to the Marchant desk calculator." (first paragraph) THROBAC I was constructed and currently resides in the MIT Museum collection. (item 2007.030.011). "Over the years,… Read More

[no place of publication stated]: [no publisher stated], 1953. Wraps. Very Good. Throbac I: [1]-5 pages. Throbac - Circuit Operation: [1]-7 pages + 1 plate leaf. 10 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches. Both are typescript carbons on thin paper, printed recto only. Paper clipped upper left. Includes small note: "Thank you for lending this to us. However, our plans have changed & we are thus unable to build a "super modern" Throback. T R Baskhear". Cyanotype plate with ink stamp on rear "Printed Apr 15, 1953 Murray Hill" surrounded by 4 concentric circles. Wraps. Apparently published only in the Sloane and Wyner bibliography, this paper describes at a high level what THROBAC I is (THROBAC stands for THrifty ROman-numeral BAckward looking Computer) and what it can do. The second paper "THROBAC - CIRCUIT OPERATION" contains a detailed description of the circuit operation, and the plate in the rear is a circuit diagram showing how the pieces interact. "Throbac...is a relay desk calculator operating entirely in the Roman… Read More

Murray Hill, N. J.: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, 1953. Wraps. Very Good. [1-cover sheet], [1-abstract], [1]-14 leaves + 4 plates (2 folding). Stapled upper left. 10 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches. Reproduced typescript. Plate slightly larger at 11 x 8 1/2 inches. The main text leaves and abstracts have fours holes punched at the spine. The plates in the rear are not hole punched. There is some mild paper toning and fold creasing to the rear pages near the staple. Wraps. The Proceedings of the I. R. E., Vol 41, pp. 1348-1351, October 1953 first published a description of the Relay Circuit Analyzer under the title "Machine Aid for Switching Circuit Design." The Bell Laboratories Monograph series (#2159: March 1954) also published that description. We were delighted to discover this internal Bell Laboratories Memorandum, "The Relay Circuit Analyzer - Case 22108," among Shannon's files. It not only precedes the first public description in the Proceedings of the IRE by several months, but it includes… Read More

Murray Hill, N. J.: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc, 1949. Wraps. Very Good. [1]-40 leaves + four plates. 10 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches (plates slightly larger). Mimeographed typescript printed on recto only. Ink stamped "May 2-1949" on upper right corner. Text with four holes punched at spine, double stapled upper left. Plates are detached, not hole punched, but do have round ink stamped "Printed May 10, 1949 Murray Hill" on verso. Several short edge tears. Graphic on page 35 is hand penciled in. Figures (plates) 1, 2, and 4 are the original cyanotypes. Plate 3 is provided in facsimile. Price reduced. Wraps. During World War II, Bell Lab scientists worked on classified government-funded cryptography research. Shannon's research resulted in the classified internal technical memorandum "A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography" dated Sept. 1, 1945. (Sloane and Wyner #24) Never published, the Bell System Technical Journal in October 1949 first published a declassified abstract of this paper titled… Read More

New York: American Institute of Electrical Engineers [AIEE], 1938. Wraps. Near Fine. [1]-11, 12 pages. 10 15/16 x 8 1/2 inches. Stapled self-wrappers. Hand-applied ink-stamp upper left "A Reprint from the Dept. of Electrical Engineering 141 Mass. Institute of Technology" partially covering the title and author of the paper. An excellent copy of this offprint, with just a touch of wear to the extremities, soft crease lower corners, and minor smudge on rear panel. Wraps. We offer an example of the very rare MIT preprint of Claude Shannon's AIEE paper "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits," a pivotal paper in the history of computing. (see #1.5 in COLLECTOR'S NOTES below for printing precedence). This paper (often referred to as Shannon's famous Master's Thesis) is a fundamentally important work in the history of computing. It demonstrates how to combine the mathematical rigor of Boolean logic with the engineering practice of building circuits, a discipline previously more of an… Read More

New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1948. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good. First Edition. vii, 751, [1] pages. Red buckram library binding with gilt spine lettering and shelf number in white. Ex-library copy with stamps on page edges and endpapers. Properly discarded. In The Bell System Technical Journal, Volume 27, 1948 (entire volume offered). Original wrapper for first issue bound in, the others not present as often the case with library bindings. Soiled upper page edges, speckled edges. Sticker of the Logan Bindery, St. Paul Minn. on front pastedown. Cloth. The Bell System Technical Journal first published this paper in two parts (July 1948 (pp 379-423) and October 1948 (pp 623-656)). Here offered in a bound volume with other research from Bell Labs in the same year. "Probably no single work in this century has more profoundly altered man's understanding of communication than [this paper]. Shannon observed that a great many communication systems could be represented [by a simple… Read More

London: Electric Telegraph Company, 1856. Boards. Very Good. A lithographed map by Day & Son, with individual sections cut and then laid on thin linen, the whole folding into a cloth case. The publisher's cloth case (9 x 6 inches) is titled "The Electric Telegraph Company's Map of Europe" (worn, splitting at spine, soiled). Boards. The Electric and International Telegraph Company was incorporated in 1846. This map shows messages and where they can be transmitted from and to with stations listed in the margin and telegraph routes highlighted in red. The List of CONTINENTAL STATIONS notes "Messages to or from the Continent must be addressed 'Via Amsterdam'. The list of ENGLISH STATIONS have no such requirement. The importance of telegraphy in the acceleration of business interests in this period cannot be underestimated. This map provides a solid insight into the state of the "network" at the time. Comparison of this map with others issued shortly afterward highlights the rapid development of this… Read More

New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1905. Sixth edition, first state. Cloth. Very Good. Sixth edition, first state. 1 leaf (presentation copy leaf), xvii, [1], 1143 pages. Original (red) cloth. Professionally rebacked with original spine laid down. Original boards preserved with color toning mostly to the rear board to address mild dampstaining. Light marginal dampstaining to the inside lower gutter prelims through pp69, pp 1085-1143, and occasionally otherwise. Occasional smudges/stains not affecting readability as befits a book designed to be used. Blue colored ring stain pp 655-672. The first state of this edition with signed PRESENTATION Leaf. The printed presentation leaf, bound at the very beginning, reads as follows: "Presentation Copy | This is Number 30 [number filled in, in ink] | of the first 105,000 copies printed." INSCRIBED in ink by WILLIAM OSLER "Dr. James Stewart | from | Wm Osler" below the printed presentation notice. Cloth. "Two states of the sixth edition (1905) were produced. The first… Read More