Non-Cooperative Games First Edition - John Nash - Bauman Rare Books

Non-Cooperative Games

John NASH

Item#: 75457 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Non-Cooperative Games

FIRST EDITION OF THE SEMINAL WORK FOR WHICH NASH WON THE NOBEL PRIZE: “NON-COOPERATIVE GAMES,” 1951

NASH, John. “Non-Cooperative Games.” IN: Annals of Mathematics, Second Series, Volume 54, Number 2, pp. 286-95. Princeton: Princeton University, July-November, 1951. Large octavo, original gray paper wrappers. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition of the complete issue containing the work that introduced the “Nash equilibrium” into economics and game theory, the impact of which “is comparable to that of the discovery of the DNA double helix in the biological sciences” (Journal of Economic Literature).

This publication of Nash’s doctoral thesis had an enormous impact. As a graduate student at Princeton, Nash encountered game theory, which had been recently articulated by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern. While their theory dealt with two-person zero-sum games, or “pure rivalries,” Nash explored rivalries with the possibility of mutual gain, in which each player acts independently and no outside authority enforces predetermined rules. His idea that any game such as this has one equilibrium point became known as the “Nash equilibrium,” a founding concept in analyzing economic behavior, and the one for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1994. Sylvia Nasar’s award-winning biography, A Beautiful Mind, as well as the 2002 Best Picture of the same title, chronicled Nash’s devastating struggle with schizophrenia, which caused his long exile from elite mathematics.

A fine copy, in original wrappers.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
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