Ernst Martin
The
Calculating Machines
Their History and Development
| From: James Redin Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 10, 1997 Dear friends, Does anybody have an extra copy of the book by Ernst Martin "THE CALCULATING MACHINES" or know where to get one? Thanks! James Redin |
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| From: Bob Otnes Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 10, 1997 First of all, there are TWO reprints of Martin. One is a straight reprint of the German version in German and in black letter print. You may be able to get one through the Auktion Team Breker in Cologne. Call their US rep, Jane Herz, for information on their auctions (941-925-0385 in New Jersey). Fine if you read German. The second reprint is the excellent one in English with translation by Kidwell and Williams, No. 16 in the MIT Press/Tomash Publishers, ISBN 0-262-13278-8. I understand that it is out of print. Under these circumstances, you may be able to get a legitimate copy. Check with your library. While I regard Martin as being chauvinistic and with errors, it is the best BOOK that there is (I believe the Chase article to be the best short work there is). The McArthy book THE AMERICAN DIGEST OF BUSINESS MACHINES is about a 70% equivalent of Martin, plus it has a lot of serial number information which is invaluable. Alas, it was reprinted on bright red paper, probably to defeat duplication (a scanner can still read it!). Call 909-597-1575. Bob Otnes |
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| From: Ralph Beckman Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 10, 1997 Try www.amazon.com. They show the book in their database. The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen : Their History and Development) by Ernst Martin Availability: This title is out of print, but if you place an order we may be able to find you a used copy within 2-6 months. Published by Mit Press Publication date: May 1992 ISBN: 0262132788 |
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| From: orders@amazon.com Subject: Your Order with Amazon.com Books (#7652-9915199-800401) Date: October 10, 1997 Thank you for ordering from Amazon.com! Your order information appears below. If you need to get in touch with us about your order, send an e-mail message to orders@amazon.com (or just reply to this message). -- Amazon.com Customer Service ------------------------------------------------------------ Your order reads as follows: E-mail address: jredin@dotpoint.com Ship to: James Redin Tel: 805-255-0107 ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 copy of "The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen : Their History and Development)" Ernst Martin; price currently unknown Researching price information for 1 item. NOTE REGARDING ORDERS CONTAINING OUT-OF-PRINT ITEMS: You will receive an e-mail message requesting approval of the price and condition of these titles. We will not charge your credit card until your approval has been received and the items have been obtained. Please note that each item listed as out-of-print is shipped as soon as we receive it, and will incur a separate per shipment and per book charge. Please note that you can view the status of your account and your orders at any time through the "Your Account" link on the navigation bar. After selecting either our secure server or standard server, you'll be prompted to enter your e-mail address and password; then click on the button marked "Account Maintenance." This will lead you to the account information page, where you can examine your orders. Here, you have the opportunity to change your e-mail address or your password, as well as check your subscriptions to our Personal Notification Services. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com! ------------------------------------------------------------ Amazon.com ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: I haven't
received the order yet, and I got a copy if the book
through other sources. |
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| From: Tim Bergin Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 10, 1997 Try calling the MIT bookstore in Cambridge, MA; you might also get a copy from the Charles Babbage Institute at the U. of Minn in Minneapolis, MN If you just need something checked, let me know what it is and I'll fax you the pages or mail them if you prefer. ------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Bergin |
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| From: Steven Feiner Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 10, 1997 This book is in the Charles Babbage Institute Reprint Series for the History of Computing: 6. The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen): Their History and Development (1925) by Ernst Martin;, translated and edited by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell and Michael R. Williams; (1992); 6"x9"; 392 pp; illus.; index; ISBN 0-262-13278-8; $50.00 (vol. 16) See their web page (http://www.cbi.umn.edu/reprints.htm), from which I took this description, for a complete list of reprints. As instructed on the page, I ordered mine several years ago from the publisher: Order Department, It was still available then. Good luck! I thumbed through the set in our library before ordering. I especially liked Martin, The Napier Tercentenary Handbook, and Napier's Rabdology. Steve Steven Feiner |
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| From: Bill
Burns Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 10, 1997 MIT Press shows this as out of print. Maybe if enough people email them they'll reprint it. http://mitpress.mit.edu/book-home.tcl?isbn=0262132788 Bill Burns Long Island NY USA |
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| From: Timo
Leipala Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 11, 1997 The contact information of Auction Team Breker is Auction Team Köln Tel.: +49/221/38 70 49 Their "Collector's Bookshop" catalogue printed earlier this year does include only the facsimile reprint of the original Martin text - Martin: Die Rechenmaschine und ihre Entwicklungsgeschichte, 477 pages, DM 140 in German language, but of course they may have copies of the English translation as well. The German version is, however, preferable, because its pages 385-470 contain the appendix of the second edition (ca. 1938), which is for some reason not included in the translation. The appendix treats the years 1926-1937 and has tens of pictures. About the only problem is the Gothic (Fraktur) font used, which is not quite easy to read at first. Timo Leipala |
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| From: Andries de Man Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 11, 1997 There is a reference to this auction house on http://pascal.computer.org/dynaweb/an/an1995/@Generic__BookTextView/27645;td=2 Auction Team Koeln,
Breker- The Specialists For an English translation, check out the Charles Babbage Institute at http://www.cbi.umn.edu/reprints.htm Andries. |
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| From: Gerno Kaufmann Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 11, 1997 Dear James, the german reprint of the "Martin Book" should be available. I took the following information from the german directory of deliverable books (VLB = Verzeichnis lieferbarer Buecher) at: http://www.buchhandel.de/ Köntopp, B, Reprint d. 1.
Aufl. 1925 mit Nachtr. 1985 Regards Gerno --------------------------------- |
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| From: Kevin Corbit Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 14, 1997 Hello James, My apologies in taking so long to respond to your email. I was out of the office from the 3rd thru the 10th. CBI would be pleased to supply you with copies of the following titles: 3. Handbook of the Napier Tercentenary Celebration or Modern Instruments and Methods of Calculation edited by E. M. Horsburgh; (1914); New introduction by M. R. Williams; 8-1/2"x11"; 384 pp.; illus; notes; ISBN 0-938228-10-2; $45.00 (vol. 3) 16. The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen): Their History and Development (1925) by Ernst Martin; translated and edited by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell and Michael R. Williams; (1992); 6"x9"; 392 pp; illus.; index; ISBN 0-262-13278-8; $50.00 (vol. 16) Your total bill would be $106 including USPS Priority Mail shipment (2 day delivery) to the Los Angeles area. Although it is possible to send the volumes by Federal Express (on your account or ours), the cost is substantially higher, especially if delivered to a residential address. CBI will include a bill with the volumes and accepts Visa, Mastercard, and personal checks made out to the "University of Minnesota" for payment. Please provide me with your address if you would like these volumes shipped. Kevin |
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| From: Michel G. Bardel Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 14, 1997 Dear James, here are the coordinates of Breker : Postal adress : Breker Physical address: Breker They have a representative in the USA : Jane Herz regards Michel |
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| From: Kevin Corbit Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 21, 1997 Good morning, James! I later looked at MIT Press's website (http://mitpress.mit.edu) and found that Martin's book is out of print, but didn't get a chance to email this information to you before I left. The MIT libraries provide photocopy reprints of out of print MIT Press books. You can access this information through the MIT Press website. If I am interpreting the fee structure correctly, the MIT Libraries Document Services charges $51 plus $0.25 per page in excess of 400. Since the Martin book is 412 pages that would be $3 additional for a total, including postage, of $54 for the high quality reproduction shipped to an address within the United States. Another alternative is to become a Friend of CBI ($100 contribution) which entitles you to order a hardbound copy of Martin's book for $40 (plus $2.50 shipping). Please let me know how you want to proceed. Kevin James Redin wrote: >> Hello Kevin, >> I'd like to order the Martin book at this time. As far as I understand the MIT Press has no longer this book available. Please let me know where to send the payment. Thanks! |
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| From: Kevin Corbit Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 21, 1997 James, If I recall correctly from your home page, you work in or near LosAngeles. Martin's book is available at UCLA and most of the libraries in the UC system. Kevin |
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| From: Skip Godfrey Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 23, 1997 Hello all - several people have been searching for copies of Martin's reference on calculating machines. Kevin Corbitt, of the Charles Babbage Institute, sent me the following information and asked that I send it to the entire list. Hopefully it will be of benefit to any of you who want to find the book. Best regards, Skip Godfrey ********************************* The MIT Press on-line catalog lists the 1992 Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) reprint of Ernst Martin's The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen): Their History and Development as out-of-print. I confirmed the title's out-of-print status earlier this week with a staff member of the MIT Press. A few copies of the Martin reprint remain available through CBI to anyone who is or becomes a supporter of the CBI as a Friend. Anyone interested in becoming a Friend can find complete information on CBI's website at http://www.cbi.umn.edu/friends.htm or request complete information by e-mail to cbi@tc.umn.edu. High-quality reproductions of the Martin reprint and other out of print MIT Press titles can be ordered from MIT Document Services, a department of the MIT Lbraries. A description of this service is available at http://libraries.mit.edu/docs/mitpress.html with links to price and ordering information. The MIT Press website also provides recommendations on out of print /antiquarian bookstores. The response generated when searching for the Martin reprint (http://mitpress.mit.edu/book-home.tcl?isbn=0262132788) includes links to the three recommended vendors. Kevin D. Corbitt |
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| From: D.I.
Kosicek Fritz Subject: Martin's Book Date: October 28, 1997 Hello list The Martins book " Die Rechenmaschinen und ihre Entwicklung" (in German.reprint) you can order by Breker Postfach 50 11 19 D-50971 Koeln Germany for 140 DM(German Mark)=80 $ Ordernummer 007 Kosicek Fritz Vienna, Austria |
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| From: Olaf Gellert Subject: exact title of Martin's book? Date: February 12, 1998 Hi, folks! I just found a catalogue of books, containing the book of Ernst Martin (the German version). It is listed there as follows: Martin, Ernst: Die
Rechenmaschinen und ihre Entwicklungsgeschichte, Bd 1 / translated: Martin, Ernst: Calculating
Machines and their history, book 1 / Does it mean there were more books planned? Is the reprint of the Charles Babbage Institue the translation of exactly this book (and thus about calculating machines with automatic carry handling)? Just a few questions before I decide whether to order the German or the American version of the book... How much did Michael R. Williams do with the original text? Some additional notes? Thanks for any information. So long Olaf Gellert |
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| From: Rutger Verbeek Subject: exact title of Martin's book? Date: February 12, 1998 > Does it mean there were more books planned? That's correct. Let me cite from the introduction of Martin's book: "In diesem Buche sind nur erstere beschrieben, waehrend die letzteren in einem besonderen Bande mit dem Titel: 'Andere mechanische Rechenhilfsmittel' (erscheint 1925) eingehend gewuerdigt werden." In my bad English: "In this book only the the first ones [i.e. machines with automatic carry handling] are described, whereas the latter ones are thoroughly estimated in a separate volume with the title 'Other mechanical calculating tools' (to appear 1925)." I never have seen this second volume and I do not know if it appeared. But for the 1. volume (from 1925) there appeared appendix of 85 pages with the new developments up to (about) 1936. I don't know if this appendix is included in the translation. R. Verbeek |
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| From: Brooke W. Boering Subject: Versions of Martin's book Date: February 12, 1998 Hi all... I am partially quoting from the translated version (library copy) which states on Page xiv of the Editor's Forward as follows: "Ernst Martin produced an updated version of this work in about 1937, which was actually the original work with an appendix containing information on more recent machines. We decided to translate only the original 1925 edition for several reasons. First the later edition is even rarer that the original, and ... ...Moreover, the later volume contains little that is new--the machines included were mostly minor modifications of ones described earlier." Hope this is of some help. Brooke W. Boering (aka Vagabondo) |
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| From: James Redin Subject: exact title of Martin's book? Date: February 12, 1998 Quoting some text from the Editor's Foreword of Ernst Martin, "The Calculating Machines (Die Rechenmaschinen) Their History and Development" translated and edited by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell and Michael R. Williams (1992): "...Martin wrote two books, both of which were published by Meyer. The first, Die Schereibmaschine und Ihre Entwicklungsgechichte, was published in 1921... Martin's second endeavor, the volume translated here, was his developmental history of calculating machines, it first appeared in 1925 and was republished, with an appendix, in about 1937." "... We decided to translate only the original 1925 edition for several reasons. First, the later edition is ever rarer than the original... Moreover, the later volume contains little that is new - the machines included were mostly minor modifications of ones described earlier." Regards, James. |
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| From: Jay Respler Subject: exact title of Martin's book? Date: February 12, 1998 > "Ernst Martin produced an updated version of this work in about 1937, I seem to recall reading that there really is no E Martin. It was a name made up just to be listed as the author of the book. Regards, Jay Respler |
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| From: Bob Otnes Subject: Martin's Book Date: January 15, 1998 It looks to me that the bottom line is that the book is just not available, except in the German version. That is sad, because, for example some time ago I paid more for a poor translation of just two or three pages that were critical to me than it later cost to buy the whole translated book by Kidwell and Williams. There is another reprint book in the same series, HIGH-SPEED COMPUTING DEVICES by Engineering Research Associates, which was originally published in 1950 in the early days of the digital computer. It is almost entirely on that subject. However, on page 139 in the chapter on desk calculators, it has the following table:
I thought that this is interesting. The Marchant appears to have a perceptible edge over the other two. As near as I can tell, the top NOMDA prices (1964) are about the same for all of them. Bob |
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| From: Peter Holland Subject: Gothic font in Martin's German reprint Date: January 15, 1998 Hi there, If someone is interested to receive a Gothic (Fraktur) font like the one used in Martin's original German book you can contact me. I can provide a TTF-file for MS-windows. When it is cold and dark in the northern winter, then you can practice this art of reading. Or does anyone know more interesting things? Peter |
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| From: Peter Holland Subject: Martin's Book Date: January 19, 1998 Hi James, Jay Respler wrote: "I seem to recall reading that there really is no E. Martin. It was a name made up just to be listed as the author of the book." Today I found by chance the following: "Vorausschicken möchte ich, daß ich das Verdienst des Johannes Meyer, alias Ernst Martin, auf keinen Fall schmälern will, wenn ..." "I'd like to mention first that I don't want to lessen the merits of Johannes Meyer, alias Ernst Martin, by ..." I found it in: Schreibmaschinen- und Bureau-Zeitung, Nr.2, 1997, Verl, S. 12 Typewriter and Office Magazin, No. 2, 1997, Verl (a town in Germany), p. 12 On this page a new book, the "Kleines Lexikon historischer Schreibmaschinen Small Encyclopaedia of Historical Typewriters" is reviewed. If the typewriter-Martin and the calculator-Martin are the same person then the real name of 'Ernst Martin' is 'Johannes Meyer'. Regards Peter |
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| From: Peter Holland Subject: Martin's Book Date: January 19, 1998 James. It seems that this information is probably wrong. I quote from a response from Brooke W. Boering: ---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------- but in 'Resources for the Typewriter Collector A page in honor of Percy Smock, who was collecting typewriters back when only eccentrics would do such a thing.' I found: Martin, Ernst (Johannes Meyer). Die Schreibmaschine und ihre Entwicklungsgeschichte. 4th ed: Pappenheim, Bavaria, 1949. An outstanding, encyclopedic work. Plentiful illustrations make it worth looking at even if you don't know a word of German. --------------------------------------------------------------- And on your site I found the opposite: [4] Ernst Martin, "The Calculating Machines." The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1992. English translation made by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell and Michael R. Williams, from the original "Die Rechenmaschinen" published in 1925 by Johannes Meyer, Pappenheim. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll try to find out more about Meyer/Martin and the town of Pappenheim. But it will take some time. I let you know. Regards Peter |
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| From: Peter Holland Subject: Martin's Book Date: March 29, 1998 Hi there, Some weeks ago there was a discussion on this list about the real name of the author of the 'calculator-Martin'. Some folks, like me, think that Martin is a pseudonym of Johannes Meyer, the publisher of the Martin-book. Others can't see any proof for this. So I wrote to the archives of the Bavarian town of Pappenheim for more information. Here is the answer: "Ihr Hauptanliegen betreff der Person des 'Ernst Martin' können wir leider auch nicht enträtseln. Johannes Meyer wurde geboren am 30.07.1885 in Frickenfelden und ist am 27.10.1949 in Pappenheim verstorben. Er war Verleger von Büchern über Schreib- und Rechenmaschinen und ihre Entwicklungsgeschichte. Meyer war Angestellter der Volksbank Pappenheim und später auch in der Vorstandschaft. Mehr ist über ihn hier nicht bekannt." "We're sorry that we can't solve the mystery according the person of 'Ernst Martin'. Johannes Meyer was born on 30.07.1885 in Frickenfelden and died on 27.10.1949 in Pappenheim. He was publisher of books about typewriters and calculators and their history. Meyer worked for the cooperative bank of Pappenheim and later was in their board. That's all we know about him." Peter Holland |
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| From: Bob Otnes Subject: Martin's Book Date: May 6, 1998 I do not know how long it will last, but Rick Blankenhorn of the Gemmary in his new catalog of books has the Martin book in translation listed as item No. 291 for $80. Bob |
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