CLAUDE SHANNON

CLAUDE SHANNON.

6 Items:

1.     With B.M. Oliver and J.R. Pierce. “The Philosophy of PCM,” In: Proceedings of the I.R.E. Volume 36, Number 11, pp 1324-1331. New York: November 1948. 4to (279 x 216 mm; 11 x 8 ½ inches). Original printed wrappers. Light rubbing to spine, else excellent. Shannon’s paper that explores a method of converting analog signals into digital by sampling the signal at regular intervals. It became the standard form of digital audio.

2.     With Weaver, Warren. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1949. 8vo (227 x 147mm; 9 x 6 inches). Original brick-red cloth, spine stamped in silver, dust jacket. Light shelfwear, jacket with spine somewhat sunned, tiny chips to edges and small chip to spine, archival tape reinforcement to folds, panels bright. FIRST EDITION in book form of the “Magna Carta of the Information Age.” Hook and Norman Origins of Cyberspace 881.

3.     “Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems.” In: The Bell System Technical Journal. Volume XXVIII, No. 4, pp 656-715. New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, October 1949. 8vo (228 x 153 mm; 9 x 6 inches). Original printed blue wrappers. Ownership signature to front wrapper, “GENL. FACILITIES ENGR.-STAFF” stamp to opening page, holes punched near spine, light spine creases and rubbing, very good overall. The foundation of secret-key cryptography. The declassified version of his September 1945 classified memorandum “A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography.”

4.     “Prediction and Entropy of Printed English.” In: The Bell System Technical Journal. Volume XXX, No. 1, pp 50-64. New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, January 1951. 8vo (228 x 153 mm; 9 x 6 inches). Original printed blue wrappers. “GENL. FACILITIES ENGR.-STAFF” stamp to opening page, holes punched near spine, light sunned and with creases and rubbing, very good overall.

5.     “Computers and Automata” & “Machine Aid for Switching Circuit Design,” In: Proceedings of the I.R.E. Volume 41, Number 10, pp 1234-1241 & 1348-1351. New York: October 1953. 4to (279 x 216 mm; 11 x 8 ½ inches). Original printed wrappers. Ownership blindstamp and ink stamp to front wrapper, light rubbing to spine, else excellent. Important “Computer Issue” with articles by Grace Hopper, John Mauchly. John Presper Eckert and others. Hook and Norman Origins of Cyberspace 885.

6.     “Game Playing Machines” In: Journal of the Franklin Institute. Vol. 260, No. 6, pp 447-453. Philadelphia: December 1955. 8vo (243 x 164 mm; 9 ½ x 7 7/8 inches). Original printed wrappers. Lightly toned, excellent overall. Touches upon machine learning, of which Shannon was a pioneer.