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Lot 247
Sale 1336 - Fine Books and Manuscripts, including Worlds of Tomorrow, and Americana
Jun 7, 2024
9:00AM CT
Live / Chicago
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Estimate
$500 -
700
Price Realized
$318
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
JEVONS, William Stanley (1835-1882). "On the Mechanical Performance of Logical Inference." In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 160, part II, pp. 497-518. London: Taylor and Francis,1870.
4to. Printed wraps; slipcase (some wear to spine as usual, rubbing).
FIRST PUBLISHED DESCRIPTION OF THE "LOGIC PIANO," THE FIRST COMPUTING MACHINE TO SOLVE COMPLEX PROBLEMS FASTER THAN HUMANS.
FIRST EDITION, journal issue. The "logic piano," so-named because of its resemblance to an upright piano, was a mechanical computer designed and built in 1869; it was exhibited before the Royal Society the following year and is described in detail in the present article. The original device is now held in the collections of the Oxford Museum of the History of Science. Hook and Norman, Origins of Cyberspace, 330; Lee, Computer Pioneers, 400; Randell, The Origins of Digital Computers, 479.