PEANO, Giuseppe.

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Arithmetices principia nova methodo exposita. First edition of the most important work by the founder of symbolic logic, outlining the first statement of his postulates for the natural numbers. Peano's postulates, known ever since as his axioms, stand as "a landmark in the history of mathematical logic and of the foundations of mathematics" (Kennedy, p. 26). As well as elegantly simplifying earlier work, Peano (1858-1932) makes innovations in logical notation, particularly by suggesting "E" for set membership. These innovations proved influential on 20th-century logic: after hearing Peano's lectures in 1900, Bertrand Russell used Peanoic notations and methods to rewrite his Principles of Mathematics: the work which evolved into the Principia mathematica.Peano wrote this slender pamphlet in Latin, a decision commonly interpreted as the one whimsical gesture in an otherwise spotlessly rational career.This copy was owned by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini (1884-1965), who spoke alongside Peano at the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians: his pencil ownership signature is at the head of the front wrapper.

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