A collection of notebooks, offprints, and books from the estate of Max Newman. by (TURING, Alan.) NEWMAN, Max - 1928–59

1928–59. Together, 29 items: 3 printed books, one manuscript notebook, one autograph album, and 24 offprints. Very light toning and spotting, extremities slightly bumped and occasionally a little worn, a few light stains, some minor nicks and chips to margins. Minor rust stains to wrappers and gutters of offprints. Generally a good state of preservation. Max Newman (1897–1984) was one of the most significant British mathematicians of his generation and a leading pioneer in modern computer science. After early pioneering work on combinatory (or geometric) topology, logic and Boolean algebras, he was elected FRS in 1939. During the Second World War, in 1942, he joined the government code and cypher school at Bletchley Park. There he realised that some of the methods used by the Bletchley codebreakers would be better done with the help of rapid, special-purpose electronic machinery employing paper tape and photoelectric cells; he and Alan Turing proposed the logical requirements for such machinery. These requirements formed the basis of practical machines, culminating with the Colossus, the world's first large-scale electronic computer. The section at Bletchley that used the machinery was headed by Newman and was called the Newmanry. From 1945 to 1964 Newman was the Fielden professor of mathematics at Manchester University, where he established the Royal Society Computing Machine Laboratory, which produced the first working stored program electronic computer in 1948. This collection of papers from his family includes an autograph album owned by his son William, who evidently took the opportunity of various conferences and academic gatherings to garner the signatures of some of the most important scientists of the mid-century, including that of Alan Turing. Newman remained close to Turing throughout his career. It was he who wrote the Royal Society's Memoir, and his wife, Lyn Irvine, who supplied the preface to Sara Turing's biography of her tragic son. The collection also includes one of Newman's own early notebooks, showing his intellectual concerns in the 1920s, and a number of offprints, including three of his own articles and a presentation copy. The collection comprises: NOTEBOOKS a. Autograph album. Oblong duodecimo, 67 pages (white, pink, and blue), original black leather-grain boards, 'Autographs' to front board gilt, edges purple. "Begun 14 July 1951" in William Newman's childish hand on the front pastedown. About 100 autographs by various famous mathematicians and scientists, including Alan Turing, Hassler Whitney, Patrick Blackett, Stan Frankel, Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, John Cockcroft. Also Carl L. Siegel and Jan A. Rajchman. Spine gently cocked, spine ends and edges of boards slightly rubbed, very minor wear to top edge of front board. b. Max Newman's Math Diary. Duodecimo, green cloth wrappers, "Math Diary" handwritten on front wrapper. 176 pages, mostly completed in ink and pencil. August 1924–December 1932 as far as dated entries are concerned. Edges speckled green. Extremities slightly rubbed, a couple of small white marks (scuff marks?) to front wrapper. Fowler's problem, (ca p. 94); Reading, summer 28 (p. 83), and notes on theorems, equations, etc. PRINTED BOOKS A. HARTREE, D. R. Calculating Machines: Recent & Prospective Developments and their impact on Mathematical Physics. Inaugural Lecture by the author. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1947.) Small quarto. Original printed wrappers, 2 plates. With Newman's ownership inscription to half-title. Wrappers toned and partially loose along spine, spine ends a little chipped, small dark stain to lower corner of front wrapper. An excellent copy. B. SHANNON, Claude E., & Warren Weaver. The Mathematical Theory and of Communication. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949). Original dark red cloth, titles to spine in silver. Spine a little faded, spine ends and corners lightly rubbed and bumped, top edge of rear board with small light marks. An excellent copy. C. TURING, Sara. Alan M. Turing. (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1959). Original pale green boards, titles to spine and front board in green. Spine gently cocked, small light dampstain to front board, spine and bottom of front board lightly toned, top and bottom edges of rear board very lightly bumped. An excellent copy. First edition of this uncommon biography, or memorial volume, of the great computer science pioneer, written by his mother; apparently issued in an edition of as little as 500 copies. Mrs Turing maintains that her son's death was an accident, the result of careless handling of chemicals when preparing "non-poisonous weed-killer, and sink-cleaner" at home. Despite this probably emotionally necessary special pleading, this is an interesting work which strives to establish Turing's credentials without reference to his then still-classified war work. Newman is referenced several times in the text; the preface is by his wife, Lyn Irvine. OFFPRINTS i. BAER, Reinhold, & Friedrich Levi. "Freie Produkte und ihre Untergruppen." From Compositio Mathematica Volume 3 (1936). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed light blue wrappers. Extremities of wrappers lightly toned, minor chip to lower corner of rear wrapper. ii. BOHR, Niels. "On the Quantum Theory of Line-Spectra. Part I" (Copenhagen: Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri, 1918). Original printed wrappers. With Newman's signature to front wrapper. Glue residue and a couple of small stains to front wrapper, spine ends slightly worn and with short splits and minor chipping, extremities rubbed and slightly nicked and creased. iii. BORN, Max. "37th Guthrie Lecture: The Conceptual Situation in Physics and the Prospects of its Future Development." From Proceedings of the Physical Society, A, Volume LXVI (1953). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed light grey-green wrappers. Some very minor rust stains, small pencilled tick to the slightly toned front wrapper. Born's speech was originally delivered on 13 March 1953. iv. BORN, Max. "The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics." From the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Volume IV (1953). Offprint, wire-stitched self-wrappers. With one spelling correction in ink to rear wrapper (Bohr has been corrected to Bohm). Some very minor rust staining, small blue ink tick to front wrapper, mild foxing to wrappers. v. CHERN, Shiing-Shen. "On the Curvatura Integra in a Riemannian Manifold." From the Annals of Mathematics (October 1945). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed yellow wrappers. Some very minor rust staining, short split to tail of spine. vi. CHURCH, Alonso. "On the Concept of a Random Sequence." From the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society Volume 46 (February 1940). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed grey wrappers. Some very minor rust staining to wrappers and along gutter. vii. CHURCH, Alonzo, & J. B. Rosser. "Some Properties of Conversion." From Transactions of the American Mathematical Society Volume 39 (May 1936). Offprint, original printed light blue wrappers, wire-stitched. Rust stains, wrappers toned and rubbed, in particular along extremities, rear fly leaf somewhat torn around staples, viii. CHURCH, Alonzo. "The Richard Paradox." From the American Mathematical Monthly Volume XLI (June-July 1934). Offprint, original printed light grey wrappers, wire-stitched. ix. CHURCH, Alonzo. "Review: The Foundations of Mathematics by F. P. Ramsey." From the American Mathematical Monthly Volume XXXIX (June-July 1932). Offprint, original printed light grey wrappers, pasted in. Small black ink stain to top edge of wrappers and text black. x. CHURCH, Alonzo. "Principia: Volumes II and III." From the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (March–April 1928). Offprint, original printed pale green wrappers, wire-stitched. xi. COLLINGWOOD, E. F., & G. Piranian. "The Structure and Distribution of Prime Ends." From the Archiv der Mathematik Volume X (1959). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed light blue wrappers. With US Army Office of Ordnance Research stamps to both wrappers and a stamp of the Office of Naval Research at the American Embassy in London to front wrapper. Some minor rust stains. xii. FAN, Ky, Olga Taussky, & John Todd. "Mathematics – An algebraic proof of the isoperimetric inequality for polygons." From the Journal of the Washington Academy of Science Volume 45 (November 1955). Offprint, quarto, one loose quire. Extremities slightly creased, small ink tick and some very light spotting to first page. An excellent copy. xiii. FAN, Ky, & John Todd. "A Determinantal Inequality." From the Journal of the London Mathematical Society, Volume 30 (1955). Offprint, wire-stitched self-wrappers. Very minor rust stains, front wrapper a little toned, with very minor rust stains and a small ink line, all to margins. An excellent copy. xiv. FAN, Ky, Olga Taussky, & John Todd. "Discrete analogs of inequalities of Wirtinger." From Monatshefte für Mathematik Volume 59 (1955). Offprint, wire-stitched self-wrappers. Some very minor rust staining, small blue ink tick to front wrapper. xv. GANDY, R. O. "On the Axiom of Extensionality, Part II." From the Journal of Symbolic Logic Volume 24 (March 1959; date crossed out, with 'to appear' written next to it). Proof copy, one loose quire, self-wrappers. With two small publisher's office stamps to front wrapper (2e Proef; Vandegarde, 27 Juli 1959, Zaltbommel). Informed marginalia (proofreading notes) presumably by Newman. Occasional small stains to margins, small blue ink stain to front wrapper, extremities a little creased. A very good copy. xvi. HU, Sze-Tsen. "Cohomology Theory in Topological Groups." From the Michigan Mathematical Journal (January 1952). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed pale blue wrappers. Some very minor rust stains, wrappers slightly foxed and toned, small blue ink tick to front wrapper, front wrapper and head of spine slightly nicked, slightly torn around staples. Inscribed by the author on front wrapper: 'With kindest regards, S.T.H.' xvii. NEWMAN, M. H. A. "Mr. Russell's 'Causal Theory of Perception'". From Mind: a Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy, Volume XXXVII (April 1928). Offprint, wire-stitched in original self-wrappers. Lightly toned, small rust stains along gutter, occasional spotting and rust stains to text, not affecting legibility, light wear to rear self-wrapper partially affecting the text, upper corner of leaves a little creased. A very good copy. xviii. NEWMAN, M. H. A. "The engulfing theorem for topological manifolds." From the Annals of Mathematics (November 1966). Offprint, original printed light yellow wrappers, pasted. One leaf loose, extremities slightly bumped. xix. NEWMAN, M. H. A. "What is Mathematics? New Answers to an Old Question." From the Mathematical Gazette Volume XLIII (October 1959). Offprint, original printed light grey wrappers, wire-stitched. Rust stains, wrappers slightly toned. xx. TODD, John. "Mathematics – Experiments in the solution of differential equations by Monte Carlo methods." From the Journal of the Washington Academy of Science Volume 44 (December 1954). Offprint, wire-stitched self-wrappers. Some minor rust staining, small blue ink tick and short closed tear to front wrapper margins. An excellent copy. xxi. TODD, John. "Evaluation of the Exponential integral for Large Complex Arguments." From the Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards Volume 52 (June 1954). Offprint, wire-stitched self-wrappers. Some very minor rust staining, small blue ink tick to front wrapper, extremities mildly rubbed. xxii. TODD, John. "Begründung für die Beschäftigung mit numerischer Analysis." From the Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung Volume 58 (1955). Wire-stitched self-wrappers. Some very minor rust staining to margins of wrappers, small black ink tick to front wrapper. xxiii. WEYL, Hermann. "Symmetry." From the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences Volume 28 (15 June 1938). Offprint, wire-stitched, printed buff wrappers. Some very minor rust staining, small blue ink tick to front wrapper. Small pencilled note to the slightly toned front wrapper, some very small stains and some light creasing to rear wrapper. Based on Weyl's paper for the eighth Joseph Henry Lecture of the Philosophical Society of Washington, delivered on 12 March 1938. xxiv. WEYL, Hermann. "Erkenntnis und Besinnung." From Studio Philosophica (1955). Offprint, wire-stitched self-wrappers. Wrappers slightly rubbed, small black ink tick to front wrapper.