tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post8000122011404980190..comments2024-03-18T17:10:35.838+00:00Comments on The IPKat: When Publication of Books Really Did Need AngelsVerónica Rodríguez Arguijohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763207846940036921noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-23402789933616482242012-05-11T18:16:33.712+01:002012-05-11T18:16:33.712+01:00The Miscellenea Analytica is available in Google B...The <a href="http://bit.ly/JJjP4Y" rel="nofollow">Miscellenea Analytica</a> is available in Google Books, and the list of subscribers is to be found in the first few pages just after the preface. <br /><br />You could perhaps search there for other examples? Looking for פרענומעראנטן returns 953 books, and "list of subscribers" more than one million, with a lot of telephone books among them...Roufousse T. Fairflynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-20044229252209320302012-05-11T16:29:19.627+01:002012-05-11T16:29:19.627+01:00This practice of producing books once financing is...This practice of producing books once financing is secured by sponsors or subscribers wouldn't have been exclusively limited to religious works.<br /><br />Stephen M. Stigler of the university of Chicago wrote two interesting, even charming, books on the history of statistics. In chapter 15 of "Statistics on the Table - the History of Statistical Concepts and Methods" (1999) he sets out to find out who discovered Bayes' theorem. <br /><br />[The author convincingly argues that discoveries and inventions are hardly, if ever, named after their true authors, which is more than slightly disheartening if you happen to work in IP...]<br /><br />On page 293 Stigler explains his sleuthing:<br /><br /><i>I decided to start with the obvious inspiration for Hartleys friend work, Abraham de Moivre. [...] The "ingenious Friend" had certainly read De Moivre. Now the first of these works, the </i>Miscellenea Analytica<i> of 1730 is unusual in that it carries with is a list of its readers. The work, like several of the time, was sold by advance subscription, and the list of subscribers was printed with the book (see Fig. 15.1). Could the "ingenious Friend" be on this list?</i><br /><br />The author then goes on to check the suspects and their alibis.Roufousse T. Fairflynoreply@blogger.com