Project whirlwind; a case history in contemporary technology by Redmond, Kent C. and Thomas M. Smith - 1975

Bedford, Mitre Corp, 1975. First edition. Paper bound. Slightly worn at corners; some pages formerly dog-eared; otherwise in very good condition. [circa 442 p.; each chapter is separately paginated.] On cover: "Manuscript edition." The very scarce (only 5 copies in OCLC) true first edition of this account of the development of the first high-speed electronic digital computer able to operate in real-time. From the foreword: "The Whirlwind history was written in 1967...[it] was intended for publication by the Smithsonian as part of a series on the history of computer development, but when the idea of the series was dropped by the Smithsonian, the manuscript lay fallow for a number of years. Frequent requests for copies were honored by photocopy of photocopy, with the result that legibility was poor and there were delays in production. We managed to locate an original copy and have reproduced a few copies in the interest of preserving this well done piece of the computer story for future scholars and historians." In 1980 it was republished by The Digital Press (as "Project Whirlwind. The History of a Pioneer Computer") in what is incorrectly called the first edition.