Philosophy and Computers

New York; Boston: Edmund C. Berkeley and Associates, 1951. 230 by 95mm (9 by 3¾ inches). Eight-panel brochure. The note, penned by Berkeley, responds to an inquiry from Mr. Grünbaum, and has a receipt date stamp of Dec. 28, 1951. A prior owner added ​“Adolf” in pencil to Grünbaum. We believe this note was sent to the exile philosopher Adolf Grünbaum. Very Good but for small, stained spot where the note was taped to the front brochure cover; the note has the tape remnant affixed to a corner. Edmund C. Berkeley (1909–1988) was an American computer scientist. He was co-founder of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and became increasingly famous after the publication of his 1949 book, Giant Brains, or Machines That Think. This brochure lists correspondence courses, priced between $22 and $35, as well as publications offered by his company. The item includes an advertisement for plans to the world’s first personal computer ​“Simon”.

Berkeley’s six-line note is addressed to Mr. Grünbaum. Adolf Grünbaum (1923–2018) was a German American philosopher. He published 400 academic articles and was especially interested in philosophical breakdowns of space and time. In 2000 he was called: ​“arguably the greatest living philosopher of science.” This note by Berkeley was written at the time Grünbaum was authoring his doctoral thesis.

EXILE: Grünbaum’s family left Nazi Germany in 1938 because they were Jewish. He recorded his oral history with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Among other interesting facts, in 1946 Grünbaum worked for the U.S. Military to interrogate highly placed Nazis.

Handwritten documents by Berkeley are scarce in the trade.

Bibliography: Norman.