75/2288 [Mathematics]. Dedekind, R. Stetigkeit und irrationale Zahlen./ Was sind und was sollen die Zahlen? Braunschweig, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1892/ 1893, 2nd ed., 2 vols., (8),24; XVIII,(2),58,(2)p., orig. unif. wr.

- Both vols. w. owner's entry in pen and ink on htitle. First vol. wr. sl. frayed; 2nd vol. wr. dam. (detached) and strengthened w. tape along outer margins.

= Second editions of Dedekind's important works on set theory. His epochal 1872 publication, Stetigkeit und irrationale Zahlen, gave the first rigorous definition of the system of real numbers, laying the foundation for much of modern day real analysis and point-set topology. Was sind und was sollen die Zahlen, his follow-up work, elaborates on his attempts "to derive a purely logical foundation for arithmetic, and devised a number of axioms that formally and exactly represented the logical concept of whole numbers" (DSB). Extremely rare. Poggendorf I, p.534; DSB IV, p.1-5.