An investigation of the laws of thought

London: Walton and Maberly, 1854. FIRST EDITION. The errata leaf is at the beginning following the Contents with the note and 6 pages of advertisements at the end of the book. Finely rebound in full morocco with gilt decorated spine. From the Tomash collection of logic and mathematics. First edition, possibly the second issue of this classic work on symbolic logic, now quite scarce, or otherwise possibly a variant issue altogether (see below). Boole (1815-1864) demonstrated how the laws of formal logic could be incorporated into a calculus. This combination of the two fields revolutionized mathematics, philosophy, and linguistics, and paved the way for the design of high-speed computers. Boole demonstrates that logical propositions can be expressed as mathematical equations, and that the algebraic manipulation of symbols in those equations offers a fail-safe method of logical deduction. The Laws of thought extends his exploration of logic, and introduces another ground-breaking concept, mathematical probability. Bertrand Russell remarked that “pure mathematics was discovered by George Boole” (Bell, Men of Mathematics, p. 441).

The issue points are in question here as the book has been rebound. The first issue apparently finds the errata leaf at the end, but it is possible it could have been moved when the book was rebound.

Bell, Development of Mathematics, p. 517; Lehigh University, Exhibition of Rare Books in the History of Mathematics (1961), 58; Norman, 266; Origins of Cyberspace, 224; Tomash, B198.