[1], iii, 100 (i.e. 102) leaves. 2 diagrams inserted in text; 3 large folding plans in pocket at rear. 8½x11, original cloth backed wrappers. First Edition.

Building on ideas formulated by innovators in computers, math and physics such as V.J. Atanasoff and Alan Turing, the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania, led by J. Presper Eckert and John V. Mauchly, became one of the developers of what would become the modern computer. Eckert and Mauchly were tasked by the US Army’s Ballistics Research Lab to create the ENIAC (Electronic Numerator, Integrator, Analyzer, and Computer) for use in solving ballistics, trajectories and ranges for new weaponry. The ENIAC machine weighed about 30 tons, covered about 1000 square feet of floor space, and used almost 18000 vacuum tubes. Even as the ENIAC was nearing operation, Eckert and Mauchly recognized its limitations. As early as January, 1944 Eckert drafted a memorandum discussing the stored-program concept of computing, which would eventually be realized in a machine called the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer). The EDVAC, a General-Purpose Internal Stored Program Computers as it would come to be known, is considered one of the origin points of today’s modern PC computer technology. As the end of World War II approached, Eckert and Mauchly began to see value in the computer beyond military use and began to consider the need to patent their ideas. At this time, the team at the Moore School was joined by John von Neumann, from the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. It is von Neumann who most researchers (and patent lawyers) credit with solving the design of the EDVAC as outlined in his First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, 1945. The EDVAC continued development with 3 or 4 official reports issued between 1945 and 1949. The present report was issued in the middle of the development of the EDVAC, and includes sections on the design logic as well as many pages of calculations and operating mathematic formulas. The report was prepared by G. W. Patterson, R. L Snyder, L. P. Tabor and Irven Travis, and includes the Organization of the EDVAC, the Input-Output System, Performance Details, Speed of Operation, Controls, Example of Operation, Aids to Maintenance and Indicated Improvements. It is unknown how many copies of this report were printed. Similar EDVAC reports from this time period had printings of 15 to 50 sets, most for distribution to other scientists or institutions. This, however, appears to be the only report that included full size blue-line print drawings of components and the architecture of the EDVAC. The copy at the University of Pennsylvania corresponds to this copy in collation. Worldcat locates 5 copies (Univ. of PA; Univ. of FL; Univ. of MN; Wayne State Univ.; Brown Univ.) No other copies have appeared at auction. Provenance: Stamped in several places with S[olomon] Charp, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania Moore School from 1941 to 1948 involved with ballistics and fire control systems for the US Army program, working alongside the ENIAC and EDVAC groups. Also included are 3 additional books belonging to S. Charp: Fire Controlman, 2c. Navy Training Courses, Volumes 1, 2, & 3, Restricted. [G.P.O., 1945].