Vintage 1969 Soviet Book: A Concise History of Mathematics – Dirk Struik | Tsar to Soviet Books

Classic 1969 Soviet Science Monograph: "A Concise History of Mathematics" by Dirk Struik

For mathematicians, historians of science, and collectors of Soviet academic literature, this 1969 original Soviet hardcover edition is a classic text. Published in Moscow by Nauka (Главная редакция физико-математической литературы издательства «Наука»), A Concise History of Mathematics (Краткий очерк истории математики) was written by Dutch-American mathematician Dirk Jan Struik.

Bound in a slate-grey woven cloth hardcover with red and black title lettering, this 328-page expanded second Russian edition features extensive historical commentaries by I. Pogrebyssky, along with archival portraits and mathematical figures.

Classical Antiquity, The Invention of Calculus & Non-Euclidean Geometry Struik’s monograph approaches the history of mathematics through its cultural, social, and technological contexts:

• Origins & Ancient Worlds: Arithmetic systems of early human societies, Babylonian algebra, Egyptian geometry, classical Greek axiomatics (Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes), and Hindu-Arabic mathematical traditions.

• The Scientific Revolution (Семнадцатое столетие): The development of analytic geometry and infinitesimal calculus by René Descartes, Pierre de Fermat, Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

• Non-Euclidean Geometry & 19th-Century Innovations: Detailed chapters and portrait plates dedicated to Nikolai Lobachevsky and János Bolyai's revolution in hyperbolic geometry, alongside Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, and Augustin-Louis Cauchy.

• Modern Foundations & Projective Geometry: Analysis of projective geometry (Jean-Victor Poncelet, Joseph Gergonne), Georg Cantor's transfinite set theory, Leopold Kronecker's constructivism, and the emergence of mathematical logic.

Complete Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Краткий очерк истории математики (A Concise History of Mathematics)

• Original Title: Abriss der Geschichte der Mathematik / A Concise History of Mathematics

• Author: Dirk Jan Struik (Дирк Ян Стройк)

• Translator & Editor: I. Pogrebyssky (И. Погребысский)

• Publisher: "Nauka" Publishing House (Москва / Ленинград)

• Publication Date: 1969 (Moscow, USSR)

• Language: Russian

• Binding: Original publisher's stamped cloth hardcover

• Print Run: 32,000 copies (Тираж 32 000 экз.)

• Page Count: 328 pages, illustrated with plates and diagrams

• Classification: History of Science / Mathematics / Soviet Academic Monographs

Condition & Preservation Report

• Exterior Condition: Original slate-grey cloth boards are clean, flat, and rigid with vibrant red and black cover lettering and minimal edge rubbing.

• Binding Integrity: Exceptionally firm, square, and tight text block with intact hinges.

• Page Quality: Interior pages, portrait plates, and bibliography sections are clean and unmarked, exhibiting uniform light cream age-toning typical of late-1960s Soviet academic paper stocks. Features sparse, light pencil notations in margins. Free from ink stamps or owner signatures.

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