The Institute of Radio Engineers: Communication in the Presence of Noise; et al.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTE OF RADIO ENGINEERS (IRE): ALL MONTHLY ISSUES IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS (24 ISSUES IN TOTAL) FROM 1949 TO 1953. HOUSED IN EXCEEDINGLY RARE ORIGINAL PUBLISHER"S BINDERS.
The Institute of Radio Engineers [IRE] was the principal professional society of the emerging radio and electronics industries, and by the postwar years had become one of the most influential technical bodies in the world; its journal, Proceedings of the IRE, was accordingly one of the leading venues for foundational work in communications, semiconductors, and early computing before the IRE’s 1963 merger with the AIEE to form the IEEE.
1949 and 1953 were particularly eventful years for the journal, documenting two of the great postwar transformations: the formalization of information theory and the emergence of digital computing and advanced transistor electronics as mature engineering fields. Two issues worth highlighting include the January 1949 issue containing Claude Shannon’s “Communication in the Presence of Noise,” one of the classic early papers of information theory, and the October 1953 issue – the famous “Computer Issue”.
On “Communication in the Presence of Noise”:
“Shannon’s ideas, described in this paper in a lucid engineering fashion and complementing his celebrated work [‘A mathematical theory of communication’], which established the discipline of information theory, affected in a profound fashion the very thinking on the structure, components, design, and analysis of communications systems in general. As such, and through the implementation of state-of-the-art communications systems and their implications on modern communications technology, which plays an ever increasing role in modern society, these ideas of Shannon’s had an influence well beyond the technical professional world of electronics engineers and mathematicians.” (A. D. Wyner & S. Shamai, ‘Introduction to “Communication in the presence of noise” by C. E. Shannon, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 2, February 1998).
The “Computer Issue” of October 1953:
The October 1953 “Computer Issue” ranks among the landmark periodical issues in the early history of computing. Issued as Vol. 41, No. 10 and explicitly presented as “The Computer Issue,” it assembled in one place a remarkable roster of pioneers, including Claude Shannon, Grace Hopper, John W. Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, Arthur L. Samuel, and Werner Buchholz. Its papers range across programming, machine logic, memory systems, switching theory, and the design of the IBM Type 701. It is, quite simply, one of the earliest coherent printed statements of computing as a self-conscious technical discipline. Few engineering journals of the period preserve so concentrated and authoritative a snapshot of the computer field at so early a date.
Other papers:
Apart from Shannon’s “Communication in the Presence of Noise” and the landmark October 1953 “Computer Issue,” the collection includes a strong body of postwar work in radar, propagation, microwave and traveling-wave-tube design, and early transistor engineering, notably the December 1953 five-part “Surface-Barrier Transistor” series and the March 1949 paper on radio signals reflected from the moon.
Please note: All the issues are undamaged and retain their original wrappers. The publisher’s binders in which they are housed were ingeniously designed to allow the issues to be removed without damaging the wrappers. The issues are held in place by tabs, which can be lifted after the screws are removed.
Proceedings of the I.R.E. New York: The Institute of Radio Engineers, 1949; 1953. Quarto, original wrappers; original publisher's binders. Only slight, modest wear to wrappers.
A highly important collection, bringing together original appearances of landmark material central to the histories of communications, computing, and electronics. EXTREMELY RARE in original wrappers and publisher’s bindings and with no institutional stamps.
Price: $5,500 .