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The Origins of Cyberspace collection described as lots 1-255 will first be offered as a single lot, subject to a reserve price. If this price is not reached, the collection will be immediately offered as individual lots as described in the catalogue as lots 1-255.
SHANNON, Claude E. A mathematical theory of communication. Offprint from Bell System Technical Journal 27 (July and October 1948).
Details
SHANNON, Claude E. A mathematical theory of communication. Offprint from Bell System Technical Journal 27 (July and October 1948).
4o. Text diagrams. Original printed wrappers; bound with several other Shannon papers in red buckram. Provenance: Lawrence Stark.
Based on research begun during World War II, "Shannon developed a general theory of communication that would treat of the transmission of of any sort of information from one point to another in space or time. His aim was to give specific technical definitions of concepts general enough to obtain in any situation where information is manipulated or transmitted -- concepts such as information, noise, transmitter, signal, receiver, and message.
"At the heart of the theory was a new conceptualization of information. To make communication theory a scientific discipline, Shannon needed to provide a precise definition of information that transformed it into a physical parameter capable of quantification. He accomplished this transformation by distinguishing information from meaning. He reserved 'meaning' for the content actually included in a particular message. He used 'information' to refer to the number different possible messages that could be carried along a channel, depending on the message's length and on the number of choices of symbols for transmission at each point in the message. Information in Shannon's sense was a measure of orderliness (as opposed to randomness) in that it indicated the number of possible messages from which a particular message to be sent was chosen. The larger the number of possibilities, the larger the amount of information transmitted, because the actual message is distinguished from a greater number of possible alternatives ...
"What began as a study of transmission over telegraph lines [by Nyquist and Hartley was developed by Shannon into a general theory of communication applicable to telegraph, telephone, radio, television, and computing machines -- in fact, to any system, physical or biological, in which information is being transferred or manipulated through time or space" (Aspray, Scientific Conceptualization of Information, 1985, 119-22).
Shannon's paper was also responsible for introducing the term "bit" (for binary digit) into the published literature, and for giving the term its current meaning of "a unit of information derived from a choice between two equally probably alternatives or 'events'" (Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary [1972]). The word itself was suggested by John Tukey in 1946. See Annals of the History of Computing 6 (1984): 152-55. Shannon 1993, no. 37. When OOC written, two copies of this offprint were cited in OCLC. From Gutenberg to the Internet 12.2. OOC 880.
[Bound with:] the following extremely rare offprints and ephemeral publications, mimeographs and dittos:
SHANNON. Game playing machines. Offprint from Journal of the Franklin Institute 260 (1955). Original gray printed wrappers; 447-453 [1]pp. Includes discussions of Torres y Quevedo's chess-playing machine, A. L. Samuel's checkers-playing program, and Shannon's own penny-matching and maze-solving "learning machines."OOC 887.
SHANNON. Reliable machines from unreliable components. Reproduced typescript. N.p, March 1956. 24pp. "These notes, taken by W. W. Peterson, cover the first five lectures in the Seminar on Information Theory offered by C. E. Shannon at M.I.T, Spring term 1956. The subject matter is principally Von Neumann's Probability Logics" (p. [1]). The notes discuss improving reliability of machines by the method of error correction. When OOC was written there was no copy in OCLC. OOC 888.
SHANNON The portfolio problem and how to pay the forecaster. Reproduced typescript. N.p, 1956. 8ff. "These notes, taken by W. W. Peterson, cover several lectures in the Seminar on Information Theory offered by C. E. Shannon at M.I.T, Spring Term, 1956" (f. [1]). "The portfolio problem" applies information theory to gambling problems; "How to pay the forecaster" applies the theory to weather prediction. When OOC was written there was no copy in OCLC. OOC 889.
SHANNON. Bounds on the tails of martingales and related questions. Dittoed typescript. N.p, n.d. [1956 or later] 19ff. From one of Shannon's seminars on information theory given at MIT in 1956 and succeeding years. The title reflected Shannon's whimsical sense of humor. When OOC was written OCLC cited no copies of this report. OOC891.
SHANNON. Error probability bounds for noisy channels. Dittoed typescript. N.p, n.d. [1956 or later]. 20ff. From one of Shannon's seminars on information theory given at MIT in 1956 and succeeding years. When OOC was written, OCLC cited no copies of this report. OOC 892.
SHANNON. Certain results in coding theory for noisy channels. Reproduced typescript. N.p, n.d. [1957]. 26ff. "In this paper we will develop certain extensions and refinements of coding theory for noisy communication channels. First, a refinement of the argument based on 'random' coding will be used to develop an upper bound on the probability of error for an optimal code in the memoryless finite discrete channel. Next, an equation is obtained for the capacity of a finite state channel when the state can be calculated at both transmitting and receiving terminals. An analysis is also made of the more complex case where the state is calculable at the trasmitting point but not necessarily at the receiving point" (f. 1). This is apparently a pre-publication version of Shannon's paper, without the final paragraph and bibliography of the published version. OOC 894.
SHANNON. Certain results in coding theory for noisy channels. Offprint from Information and Control 1, no. 1 (September 1957). Original plain self-wrappers. 6-25pp. Text diagrams. The first published version. OOC 895.
SHANNON. Channels with side information at the transmitter. Reproduced typescript. N.p, n.d. [1958]. Unbound, stapled. 14 ff. An earlier version of the following item, without the appendix found in the printed version. When OOC was written, no copies were cited in OCLC. OOC 896.
SHANNON. Channels with side information at the transmitter. Offprint from IBM Journal of Research and Development 2 (October 1958). Original white printed wrappers. 289-293 [1]pp. "In certain communication systems where information is to be transmitted from one point to another, additional side information is available at the transmitting point. This side information relates to the state of the transmission channel and can be used to aid in the coding and transmission of information. In this paper a type of channel with side information is studied and its capacity determined" (p. 289). OOC 897.
SHANNON. Probability of error for optimal codes in a Gaussian channel. Offprint from Bell System Technical Journal 38 (May 1959). Original gray printed wrappers. 46pp. "A study is made of coding and decoding systems for a continuous channel with an additive gaussian noise and subject to an average power limitation at the transmitter. Upper and lower bounds are found for the error probability in decoding with optimal codes and decoding systems. These bounds are close together for signaling rates near channel capacity and also for signaling rates near zero, but diverge in between. Curves exhibiting these bounds are given" (p. 1). OOC 898.
SHANNON. "Two-way communication channels." Extract (?) from Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium Probability and Statistics, June 20-July 30, 1960, ed. J. Neyman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961. 611-644pp. Reprinted in Key Papers in the Development of Information Theory, ed. D. Slepian (New York: IEEE Press, 1974). OOC 899.
[With:] 1966 IEEE international convention and exhibition. The medal of honor. Biographical sketch: Dr. Claude Elwood Shannon. Reproduced typescript. New York, 1966. OCC 900. -- SHANNON. Collected papers. Edited by N.J. A. Sloane and Aaron D. Wyner. New York: IEEE Press, 1993. Original black cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. OCC 901.
4
Based on research begun during World War II, "Shannon developed a general theory of communication that would treat of the transmission of of any sort of information from one point to another in space or time. His aim was to give specific technical definitions of concepts general enough to obtain in any situation where information is manipulated or transmitted -- concepts such as information, noise, transmitter, signal, receiver, and message.
"At the heart of the theory was a new conceptualization of information. To make communication theory a scientific discipline, Shannon needed to provide a precise definition of information that transformed it into a physical parameter capable of quantification. He accomplished this transformation by distinguishing information from meaning. He reserved 'meaning' for the content actually included in a particular message. He used 'information' to refer to the number different possible messages that could be carried along a channel, depending on the message's length and on the number of choices of symbols for transmission at each point in the message. Information in Shannon's sense was a measure of orderliness (as opposed to randomness) in that it indicated the number of possible messages from which a particular message to be sent was chosen. The larger the number of possibilities, the larger the amount of information transmitted, because the actual message is distinguished from a greater number of possible alternatives ...
"What began as a study of transmission over telegraph lines [by Nyquist and Hartley was developed by Shannon into a general theory of communication applicable to telegraph, telephone, radio, television, and computing machines -- in fact, to any system, physical or biological, in which information is being transferred or manipulated through time or space" (Aspray, Scientific Conceptualization of Information, 1985, 119-22).
Shannon's paper was also responsible for introducing the term "bit" (for binary digit) into the published literature, and for giving the term its current meaning of "a unit of information derived from a choice between two equally probably alternatives or 'events'" (Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary [1972]). The word itself was suggested by John Tukey in 1946. See Annals of the History of Computing 6 (1984): 152-55. Shannon 1993, no. 37. When OOC written, two copies of this offprint were cited in OCLC. From Gutenberg to the Internet 12.2. OOC 880.
[Bound with:] the following extremely rare offprints and ephemeral publications, mimeographs and dittos:
SHANNON. Game playing machines. Offprint from Journal of the Franklin Institute 260 (1955). Original gray printed wrappers; 447-453 [1]pp. Includes discussions of Torres y Quevedo's chess-playing machine, A. L. Samuel's checkers-playing program, and Shannon's own penny-matching and maze-solving "learning machines."OOC 887.
SHANNON. Reliable machines from unreliable components. Reproduced typescript. N.p, March 1956. 24pp. "These notes, taken by W. W. Peterson, cover the first five lectures in the Seminar on Information Theory offered by C. E. Shannon at M.I.T, Spring term 1956. The subject matter is principally Von Neumann's Probability Logics" (p. [1]). The notes discuss improving reliability of machines by the method of error correction. When OOC was written there was no copy in OCLC. OOC 888.
SHANNON The portfolio problem and how to pay the forecaster. Reproduced typescript. N.p, 1956. 8ff. "These notes, taken by W. W. Peterson, cover several lectures in the Seminar on Information Theory offered by C. E. Shannon at M.I.T, Spring Term, 1956" (f. [1]). "The portfolio problem" applies information theory to gambling problems; "How to pay the forecaster" applies the theory to weather prediction. When OOC was written there was no copy in OCLC. OOC 889.
SHANNON. Bounds on the tails of martingales and related questions. Dittoed typescript. N.p, n.d. [1956 or later] 19ff. From one of Shannon's seminars on information theory given at MIT in 1956 and succeeding years. The title reflected Shannon's whimsical sense of humor. When OOC was written OCLC cited no copies of this report. OOC891.
SHANNON. Error probability bounds for noisy channels. Dittoed typescript. N.p, n.d. [1956 or later]. 20ff. From one of Shannon's seminars on information theory given at MIT in 1956 and succeeding years. When OOC was written, OCLC cited no copies of this report. OOC 892.
SHANNON. Certain results in coding theory for noisy channels. Reproduced typescript. N.p, n.d. [1957]. 26ff. "In this paper we will develop certain extensions and refinements of coding theory for noisy communication channels. First, a refinement of the argument based on 'random' coding will be used to develop an upper bound on the probability of error for an optimal code in the memoryless finite discrete channel. Next, an equation is obtained for the capacity of a finite state channel when the state can be calculated at both transmitting and receiving terminals. An analysis is also made of the more complex case where the state is calculable at the trasmitting point but not necessarily at the receiving point" (f. 1). This is apparently a pre-publication version of Shannon's paper, without the final paragraph and bibliography of the published version. OOC 894.
SHANNON. Certain results in coding theory for noisy channels. Offprint from Information and Control 1, no. 1 (September 1957). Original plain self-wrappers. 6-25pp. Text diagrams. The first published version. OOC 895.
SHANNON. Channels with side information at the transmitter. Reproduced typescript. N.p, n.d. [1958]. Unbound, stapled. 14 ff. An earlier version of the following item, without the appendix found in the printed version. When OOC was written, no copies were cited in OCLC. OOC 896.
SHANNON. Channels with side information at the transmitter. Offprint from IBM Journal of Research and Development 2 (October 1958). Original white printed wrappers. 289-293 [1]pp. "In certain communication systems where information is to be transmitted from one point to another, additional side information is available at the transmitting point. This side information relates to the state of the transmission channel and can be used to aid in the coding and transmission of information. In this paper a type of channel with side information is studied and its capacity determined" (p. 289). OOC 897.
SHANNON. Probability of error for optimal codes in a Gaussian channel. Offprint from Bell System Technical Journal 38 (May 1959). Original gray printed wrappers. 46pp. "A study is made of coding and decoding systems for a continuous channel with an additive gaussian noise and subject to an average power limitation at the transmitter. Upper and lower bounds are found for the error probability in decoding with optimal codes and decoding systems. These bounds are close together for signaling rates near channel capacity and also for signaling rates near zero, but diverge in between. Curves exhibiting these bounds are given" (p. 1). OOC 898.
SHANNON. "Two-way communication channels." Extract (?) from Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium Probability and Statistics, June 20-July 30, 1960, ed. J. Neyman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961. 611-644pp. Reprinted in Key Papers in the Development of Information Theory, ed. D. Slepian (New York: IEEE Press, 1974). OOC 899.
[With:] 1966 IEEE international convention and exhibition. The medal of honor. Biographical sketch: Dr. Claude Elwood Shannon. Reproduced typescript. New York, 1966. OCC 900. -- SHANNON. Collected papers. Edited by N.J. A. Sloane and Aaron D. Wyner. New York: IEEE Press, 1993. Original black cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. OCC 901.
Further details
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