A Chronological Annotated Bibliography on Order Statistics. Volume 1. PRE-1950.

Let a sample of size n from a specified or unspecified population be arranged in nondecreasing order. Then the ordered sample values are collectively called the order statistics plural of the sample. In another sense of the expression, order statistics singular is that branch of the subject of statistics which deals with the mathematical properties of order statistics plural and with statistical methods based upon them. The majority of publications on order statistics deal with the order statistics of specific populations, and many of them involve the use of the sample order statistics to estimate one or more population parameters. The compiler of this bibliography makes a sharp distinction between order statistics and rank statistics, which is a branch of nonparametric statistics. Publications dealing with the ranks of the observations in the sample but not with the values or expected values of any of them will not in general be included in this bibliography however, a few that are needed for comparison of methods based on ranks with alternatives based on order statistics will be included. Similarly, although the method of least squares is not based on order statistics, a substantial number of publications on least squares will be included because most alternative methods are based on order statistics and comparisons with the classical method of least squares are inevitable.