SHANNON, Claude.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Bibliography of Communication Theory. Two typewritten bibliographies on information theory by the founder of the discipline, both unpublished, the only set found in Shannon's personal files. The first bibliography, split into two sections ("Communication Theory" and "Some Collateral References"), comprises works that are published, "in press", and unpublished. It dates from shortly after the appearance of Shannon's foundational paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" (1948; published in book form in 1949). Shannon remarks that the bibliography "aims at being reasonably complete with regard to papers dealing directly with the subject" but qualifies that many of those included "are of extremely poor quality". He includes six of his own works, two of which are listed as forthcoming: "Memory Requirements in a Telephone Exchange" (1950) and "The Entropy of Printed English" (1951, under a slightly adapted title). The references described as "collateral" cover related subjects such as cryptanalysis, game theory, mathematics, and speech.The second bibliography contains 68 items organized within five date ranges; the focus is slightly different, foregrounding historical sequence and including different topics like linguistics.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.