Eléments de Mathématique, I-36 (I-XXXVI), lacking fascicules 4, 17, 20, 22, 32 and 34. 31 volumes total, including fascicule VI in the original and in the revised 3rd edition

Paris: Hermann, 1971. Paperback. Very Good. First printings, 1939-1971, mainly in very good condition, of one of the most important contributions to 20th century mathematics. Also includes Amir D. Aczel's "The Artist and the Mathematician, the story of Nicolas Bourbaki, the Genius Mathematician who Never Existed" (2006), a book which establishes the greatness and enormous influence of "Bourbaki," as the roots of "New Math," and including its effect on literature and the Oulipo Group. 30 fascicules: the project was ongoing but volumes came out sporadically in the decades after, including revised editions of earlier volumes and additional chapters to previous volumes. This set is from the library of Walter Noll, a well known mathematician who was a long time professor at CMU. In an interview, Noll stated 'I have been accused of being too "Bourbakistic". I plead guilty. I believe the work of Bourbaki was the most important contribution to mathematics in the 20'th century. Bourbaki was not a single individual but a group, some of whose members I met personally.' Clifford Truesdell, the biographer of Noll, wrote that 'Paris brought to Walter his first contact with the work of N. Bourbaki. He saved enough money to buy all the volumes of the Elements de Mathematiques yet published; later he studied some of the volumes systematically. In the Spring and Summer of 1950 Walter acquired "Certificats d'Etudes Superieures" through three examinations at the Sorbonne' (1993). Most volumes bear Noll's signature and the early ones confirm that he acquired them in 1950. The volumes are in very good condition and includes errata slips and other loosely laid in instructions and supplementary material for some volumes. Condition problems are here noted: No. II has light wear to spine, XI lacks a third of its spine paper, light loss to bottom of front cover, no. XII has light loss to spine ends. Most of the missing volumes can be readily acquired online, the only troublesome one might be no. IV. The Bourbaki collective, whose membership was kept secret, had a rule limiting the age of any member to 50 or younger, which meant that there was an entire turnover of authors by the late 1950s and again by the 1970s. The Bourbaki group was known for its rigour and adversity to the free-flowing instinctive styles of Poincaré and his followers. The first volumes in first editions are practically unobtainable.