TWO RARE PAPERS ON LOGIC AND COMPUTING. JEVONS, STANLEY. 1835-1882. 'On the Mechanical Performan...

TWO RARE PAPERS ON LOGIC AND COMPUTING. JEVONS, STANLEY. 1835-1882. 'On the Mechanical Performance of Logical Interference,' in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Volume 160, Part II. London: for the Royal Society by Taylor and Francis, 1870. 4to. 3 lithographed plates. Publisher's printed wrappers, spine started at Jevons's article. Custom folding cloth case. Provenance: Hon. Stanley C. Wisniewski (pencil inscription) in both works in this lot. FIRST EDITION OF JEVONS'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS 'LOGICAL PIANO' - THE FIRST MACHINE TO PERFORM OPERATIONS AT SUPERHUMAN SPEED. Called a 'logical piano' because of its resemblance to the piano, Jevons's machine could through a series of switches perform logical calculations, an early prototype of the computer. He exhibited it before the Royal Society in January 1870, and his original is still on display at the History of Science Museum at Oxford. Jevons's device is considered 'the first logic machine with enough power to solve complicated problems with superhuman speed' (Hook & Norman Origins of Cyberspace 330). Tomash & Williams J15. WITH: 'On a General System of Numerically Definite Reasoning,' OFFPRINT FROM: Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 3:4. London: Taylor & Francis, 1870. 8vo. Publisher's printed wrappers. Custom archival folding paper chemise, cloth case. Provenance Erwin Tomash (1921-2012, bookplate to verso front wrapper). FIRST EDITION, offprint issue, of Jevons's 'modification of the systems to permit numerical quantities in the logical reasoning developed by George Boole and Augustus DeMorgan' (Tomash & Williams J14). For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing