Television, 6 vols. (1936 - 1950)

RCA (Radio Corporation of America). Television: Collected addresses and papers on the future of the new art and its recent technical developments. 6 volumes. New York: RCA Institutes Technical Press, 1936-1950. Vols. 1 and 2 in original blue printed wrappers; Vols 3-6 in original cloth. 230 x 150 mm. (Vols. 1-2); 220 x 145 mm. (Vols. 3-6). Spines and edges faded, head of spine in Vol. 1 beginning to separate from the text block, first leaf of Vol. 1 starting, light toning. Very good.

First Edition. RCA was a leading pioneer of commercial television. The company began developing TV technology in 1929 at the urging of Vladimir Zworykin, one the founders of modern television, who had patented a prototype television system a few years earlier. Despite the system's technical limitations, Zworykin was able to convince RCA's president, David Sarnoff, that a commercial version could be produced in a short time for $100,000-an overly optimistic claim, as RCA ended up investing nearly ten years and several million dollars in the project. RCA began regular television broadcasting from its NBC studios in New York on 30 April 1939.

The first volume in the present series was issued in July 1936, almost three years before RCA's historic first TV broadcast; the sixth (and apparently final) volume came out in 1950. The first three volumes include eight papers written or co-authored by Zworykin. A bibliography of technical papers on television by RCA authors is appended to Vol. 6.