Von Neumann, John (1903-1957) and Morgenstern, Oskar (1902-1977)
THEORY OF GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR. PRINCETON: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1944
LOT SOLD.
5,625 GBP
Details & Cataloguing
The Erwin Tomash Library on the History of Computing
|
London
London
Von Neumann, John (1903-1957) and Morgenstern, Oskar (1902-1977)
THEORY OF GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR. PRINCETON: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1944
8vo (234 x 156mm.), original light brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt on red panel, corrigenda leaf loosely inserted, dust-jacket, neat restoration to jacket along spine and along top and lower edges, slight remains of tape adhesive to corrigenda leaf and front endpaper, minor browning to jacket
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Provenance
bought from Scientia, Arlington, MA, 1990
Literature
Tomash & Williams V43; Origins of Cyberspace 953
Catalogue Note
FIRST EDITION OF THE GROUND-BREAKING WORK OUTLINING A MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF GAMES AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, leading to the creation of modern game theory studying the ways in which strategic interactions among rational players produce outcomes with respect to the players' preferences, but not always with outcomes intended by any of them. Game theory subsequently revolutionised economics and scientific inquiry into a whole host of phenomena, and was most famously embraced by the American think tank the RAND Corporation, charged with formulating military strategy for the atomic age. It led to the momentous discovery by RAND scientists in 1950 of the so-called "prisoner's dilemma", a mind-bending game in which two or more people may betray the common good for individual gain.
"The authors did not expect their book to be embraced or even understood by the economists, and the publisher expected such low sales that he insisted on a subsidy..." (William Aspray, John von Neumann and the origins of modern computing, quoted by Tomash & Williams, p.1329). In the event the work attracted considerable publicity from an early stage, featuring on the front page of The New York Times in March 1946. By academic standards the book became a best-seller.
Suggested Lots
The Erwin Tomash Library on the History of Computing
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London
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