FOUR WORKS ON LOGIC MACHINES

i. Korsakov Semen Nikolayevich (1787-1853). Aperçu d'un procédé nouveau d'investigation au moyen de machines à comparer les idées. St Petersburg: Imprimerie de sa Majesté Impériale, 1832, 8vo, two folding engraved plates, original printed paper wrappers, (Zisska & Kistner, Auktion 24/I, 24-27 October 1994, lot 1026, Erwin Tomash), [T&W K4], spottingii. Marquand, Allen (1853-1924). "A new logical machine" [in:] Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, new series 13, no. 2, October 1885 to May 1886. Boston: John Wilson and Son for the University Press, 1886, 8vo, errata slip, photographic plate, original printed paper wrappers, loss to wrappers [T&W M39] iii. Mays, Wolfe, Hansel, Charles E.M. (1917-2011), and Henry, D.P (1921-2004). "Note on the exhibition of logical machines at the joint session, July 1950" [in:] Mind, vol. 40, no. 238, April 1951. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, [1951], 8vo, original printed paper wrappers [T&W M71]iv. Smee, Alfred (1818-1877). The process of thought adapted to words and language. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851. 8vo, 32-page publisher's catalogue at end, original cloth, (bought from Michael Phelps, UK, 1983), [T&W S128; Origins of Cyberspace 366; Norman 266], binding worn, library markings 

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While working in the statistics department of the Police Ministry, Korsakov had devised several devices which he called “machines for the comparison of ideas”. “These machines could be considered as the very first attempt to design a mechanical device capable to perform such intellectual operations as data analysis, comparison, and selection” (Valery V. Shilov and Sergey A. Silantiev, "Machines à Comparer les Idées of Semen Korsakov: First Step Towards AI" in International Communities of Invention and Innovation: IFIP International Conference on the History of Computing, 25-29 May 2016, Brooklyn, NY, Cham, Switzerland [2016], pp.71-86).