Search Results: Authors starting with E from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

Milan: Bompiani, 1980. First edition, first printing. Original cloth with dust-jacket. Fine. SIGNED FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF ECO'S LITERARY MASTERPIECE. Eco's historical mystery novel, set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, follows the tale of the friar William of Baskerville and the young Benedictine monk Adso of Melk, who are sent to investigate a series of murders that have occurred within the monastery. Renowned not only for Eco's intricate plot, Il nome della rosa contains a vivid depiction of the late Middle Ages rich in historical depth and precise in its depiction of the tensions within a medieval community. The present signed copy is in remarkably fine condition, with the original unclipped dust-jacket and a label from Italy's copyright authority SIAE (Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori; Italian Society of Authors and Publishers) verifying the copy as one of the first printings from September 1980. ECO, UMBERTO. Il nome della rosa. Bompiani: Milan, 1980. First… Read More

Berlin: Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1919. First Edition. Fine. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of one of Einstein's major papers on the modification of general relativity and the beginning of his unified field theory. "As so often the case in relativity, the story of quantum gravity begins with Einstein himself. Soon after the final formulation of general relativity, he pointed out the need for a quantum modification of the theory... [In "Do Gravitational Fields Play an Essential Role in the Structure of the Elementary Particles of Matter?"] he began to speculate whether gravitation plays a role in the atomistic structure of matter: There are reasons for thinking that the elementary formations which go to make up the atom are held together by gravitational forces... The above reflections show the possibility of a theoretical construction of matter out of the gravitational field and the electromagnetic field alone... "In order to construct such a model… Read More

np: np, 1932. First edition. nb. UNPUBLISHED CANDID PHOTOGRAPHS OF EINSTEIN AND LETTERS BY WILLIAM HUBBARD OFFERING AN INTIMATE VIEW OF THE SCIENTIST ON VACATION. On March 2, 1932, at the height of his career and world fame, Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa set off on a vacation to their German homeland, departing from Los Angeles on the M. S. San Francisco. Another passenger aboard the ship was the renowned music scholar, William Lines Hubbard. Famous in his own right, Hubbard was the music critic for the Chicago Tribune and author of a definitive 11-volume work on the history of opera (published 1908).  Accompanying Hubbard was his companion Julia Reid, their cabins adjacent to that of the Einstein's. As was the practice during this era, Hubbard kept detailed journals and letters of his travel experiences.  This collection, from the estate of Hubbard, contains the following items:
 1. Three unpublished small black-and-white and sepia photographs.  The first photograph (4.5" x 2.5")… Read More

Princeton: np, 1937. First Edition. Very Good. AN EXTRAORDINARY LETTER BY EINSTEIN TO HIS SON OFFERING LIFE ADVICE AND DISCUSSING FREUD, SHAKESPEARE, AND SCHILLER. Addressed to his son Eduard "Tetel" Einstein and signed "Papa", the letter, written in ink on both sides of one sheet, reads in full (translated from the original German): 

Dear Tetel,

 I hope by now you've received Freud's lectures from Vienna. I've read most of them myself in the past. They really made me admire the Author, but they didn't convince me that his theories were correct. 

I must admit however that, based on my personal experiences, my conviction about those theories is weakening -- I feel now that he was onto something, at least in regards to the main theses. I would have written to you sooner, but work is keeping me very busy. Even though they say that the work of a single person will not have much of an impact in the big picture, it does not diminish the passion in which we pursue our interests, and… Read More

Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1914. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINT. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION, COMMERCIAL OFFPRINT ISSUE, of Einstein's important 1914 paper on the development of general relativity. "In summer 1914, Einstein felt that the new theory [general relativity] should be presented in a comprehensive review. He also felt that a mathematical derivation of the field equations that would determine them uniquely was still missing. "Both tasks are addressed in a long paper, presented in October 1914 to the Prussian Academy for publication in its Sitzungsberichte. It is entitled 'The formal foundation of the general theory of relativity'; here, for the first time, Einstein gave the new theory of relativity the epithet 'general' in lieu of the more cautious 'generalized' that he had used for the Entwurf" (Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940). "According to John Norton ('How Einstein Found His Field… Read More

Lancaster: Physical Review, 1931. First Edition. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of Einstein's paper outlining a thought experiment to suggest that the uncertainty principle requires the acknowledgement of an indeterminate past. "To Heisenberg at the 1920's only the prediction of the future was important, and the mathematical theory assisted him to calculate the probability of the end-state given the initial state: the description of the intermediate development of the system between two objectively recorded or recordable states did not seem to correspond to physical reality. "On the other hand, Einstein, as a critic of quantum physics, did not admit Heisenberg's standpoint, especially that the indeterminacy principle does not refer to the past. In the paper 'Knowledge of Past and Future in Quantum Mechanics' (1931), Einstein proposed an imaginary experiment, in which 'the possibility of describing the past path of one particle would lead to… Read More

np: np, 1930. First edition. Fine. EINSTEIN ON THE CONCEPT OF PEACE: A POWERFUL AUTOGRAPH STATEMENT IN EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE FORMAT. 
. Translated from the original German: "No person has the moral right to call himself a Christian or Jew so long as he is prepared to engage in systematic murder at the command of an authority, or allow himself to be used in any way in the service of war or the preparation for it." Starting in 1925, the French Academy began sending large (11.5x16.5) sheets to important scientists, writers, and intellectuals asking them to write on the sheet a statement on the concept of peace for possible inclusion in an anthology. (The World League for Peace later released a limited edition of prints from the submissions under the title Pax Mundi: livre d'or de la paix.) This is Einstein's unique manuscript submission. A highly unusual format with exceptionally large Einstein signature (2.25 in / 6 cm) of an important Einstein statement, consistent with his life-long dedication… Read More

Princeton, NJ: np, 1943. First edition. nb. Fine. EINSTEIN OFFERS STRONG AND PRESCIENT WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE LEADER OF THE NAACP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RACIAL SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Background: Einstein's fight against racial discrimination in the United States: The imperative "to protect the rights of the individual... was Einstein's most fundamental political tenet. Individualism and freedom were necessary for creative art and science to flourish. Personally, politically, and professionally, he was repulsed by any restraints. "That is why he remained outspoken about racial discrimination in America... As a Jew who had grown up in Germany, Einstein was acutely sensitive to such discrimination. 'The more I feel an American, the more this situation pains me,' he wrote in an essay called 'The Negro Question' for the January 1946 issue of Pageant magazine. 'I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out.'" (Isaacson, Albert Einstein, 505).… Read More

Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1908. First edition. original wrappers. Very Good. THE BIRTH OF GENERAL RELATIVITY: FIRST PRINTING IN RARE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF ONE ONE EINSTEIN'S MOST IMPORTANT PAPERS; containing the beginning of general relativity, the derivations of the equivalence principle, gravitational redshift, and the gravitational bending of light. "Einstein's road to general relativity began in November 1907, when he was struggling against a deadline to finish an article for a science yearbook explaining his special theory of relativity. Two limitations of that theory still bothered him: it applied only to uniform constant-velocity motion... and it did not incorporate Newton's theory of gravity. "'I was sitting in a chair in the patent office at Bern when all of a sudden a thought occurred to me,' he recalled. 'If a person falls freely, he will not feel his own weight.' That realization, which 'startled' him, launched him on an arduous eight-year effort to generalize his special theory of relativity… Read More

np: np, 1919. First edition. Very Good. OVER 100 PHOTOGRAPHS (with some duplicates) from the archives of the Wide World Photos (later the Associated Press) documenting Einstein's life. Taken together, the collection - photographs with individual explanatory captions - serves as a biography in pictures through the eyes of the press and is a valuable primary source in understanding how the public's perception of Einstein was shaped by the media.. Albert Einstein's fame far exceeded what one could ever have expected for a scientist - for much of his adult life he was one of the most recognized people in the world and, astonishingly, his fame has only grown since his death in 1955. How did this come to be? Einstein had the luck (or misfortune) of having a career that coincided almost perfectly with the rise of mass media, particularly in the form of newspapers, magazines, and photojournalism in general. With his revolutionary theories, bohemian attire, expressive face, and witty quotes, Einstein… Read More

Lancaster PA and New York NY: American Institue of Physics, 1935. 1st Edition. Original wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION of the famous "EPR" paper, one of the most discussed and debated papers of modern physics. WITH: Bohr's response. "In the May 15, 1935 issue of Physical Review Albert Einstein co-authored a paper with his two postdoctoral research associates at the Institute for Advanced Study, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen. The article was entitled 'Can Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?' [...] Generally referred to as EPR, this paper quickly became a centerpiece in debates over the interpretation of quantum theory, debates that continue today. Ranked by impact, EPR is among the top ten of all papers ever published in Physical Review journals." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Indeed, like the verification of Einstein's earlier prediction of the gravitational deflection of light, EPR even got attention in the popular press. Eleven days before the… Read More

Leipzig: Barth, 1906. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine. FIRST EDITION of two important Einstein papers, including one of the two papers on his Noble Prize winning work on the photoelectric effect. On the Theory of Light Production and Light Absorption: A continuation and development of Einstein's revolutionary first paper in 1905 on the photoelectric effect ("On a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and Conversion of Light"). "In a companion paper [to "On a Heuristic Point..."], published in 1906, Einstein exposed appeal to the quantum as fundamentally counter to the ethos of classical physics: 'the theoretical bases on which Planck's radiation theory rests are different from those of Maxwell's theory'. Planck had not initially intended to quantify light-radiation itself, but Einstein demonstrated that his own 'light-quantum hypothesis' was implicit in Planck's earlier work. In viewing radiation not as a continuous wave, but as composed of small packets of energy (later called photons),… Read More

Princeton: np, 1934. 1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. AN IMPORTANT SIGNED LETTER (in English) by Einstein, revealing his reservations of associating with communism even in the fight against fascism. Written from Princeton, NJ, to Professor Albert Sprague Coolidge of Harvard University, and dated February 16, 1934, the letter reads: My dear Professor Coolidge: I had an opportunity of meeting personally Lord Marley and has [sic] very favorably impressed by his personality. It became known to me that he sympathizes with the Russian Government, i.g. with the Russian communist party and that the committee for which he is active is influenced by communists. The problem as to the attitude which is advisable to be taken towards this committee is rather complicated. On the one hand, the world-wide danger of fascism makes it necessary that all enemies of fascism cooperate; on the other hand, an action which has communist leanings might endanger that fight since the important task undertaken in defense… Read More

Princeton: Estate of Fred Stein, 1946. Limited Edition. no binding. Fine. STUNNING LARGE GELATIN SILVER LIMITED EDITION PHOTOGRAPH; one of the most iconic images of the 20th century. One of only 450 in the edition. "In 1946, when Albert Einstein was in residence at Princeton University, Fred Stein was granted ten minutes of the great man's time to take a portrait. After the time was up, Einstein's secretary came in to usher Stein out. However, Einstein insisted that he stay, saying that their discussion was too interesting to cut short. The secretary came back repeatedly, but the visit extended to two hours. The resulting portrait by Fred Stein pictures a deep intelligence engaged in thought. It became an iconic image, and one of the most famous photographs ever taken of Albert Einstein" (Dawn Freer, "Fred Stein: A Retrospective"). Printed later (1994) on behalf of the Fred Stein estate by Stein's son, Peter Stein: "Printed and archivally processed by a master… Read More

Leipzig and Berlin: Teubner, 1913. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST EDITION, COMMERCIAL OFFPRINT ISSUE, of Einstein's breakthrough work on general relativity: the famous "Entwurf" paper. "In this book, Einstein and Grossman investigated curved space and curved time as they relate to a theory of gravity. They presented virtually all the elements of the general theory of relativity with the exception of one striking omission: gravitational field equations that were not generally covariant. Einstein soon reconciled himself to this lack of general covariance through the 'hole argument,' which sought to establish that generally covariant gravitational field equations would be physically uninteresting. Einstein did not adopt the gravitational field equations until late in 1915 in his final formulations of the general theory. Here, Einstein contributed the physics and Grossman the mathematics" (Calaprice, The Einstein Almanac, 40). Weil 59a. Offprint from Zeitschrift für Mathematik… Read More

Princeton, NJ: np, 1953. First edition. custom folder. Very Good. TOWARDS THE END OF HIS LIFE, EINSTEIN WRITES TO ONE OF HIS FRIENDS FROM THE PATENT OFFICE CONCERNING ONE OF THE CENTRAL STRUGGLES OF HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE. COMMENTING ON THE WORK OF DIRAC, EINSTEIN ADMITS THAT ALTHOUGH HE "CAN'T TAKE A STATISTICAL FOUNDATION OF PHYSICS SERIOUSLY" HE FINDS IT "DIFFICULT TO MOVE BEYOND IT". Background: Einstein's struggle with accepting a strictly statistical quantum theory has been one of the most discussed and debated topics of twentieth-century physics. When introduced to the statistically-based quantum mechanics of Heisenberg, Born, and Jordan in 1926, Einstein famously wrote to Max Born that "Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the 'old one.' I, at any rare, am convinced that He is not playing at dice." (Einstein letter to Born from 4 December 1926.)… Read More

Princeton, NJ: np, 1948. framed. Fine. ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED IMAGES OF EINSTEIN, SIGNED BY MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER, YOUSUF KARSH. On February 11, 1948, Yousuf Karsh, perhaps the most accomplished portrait photographer of his generation, visited The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to fulfill a dream of his: to photograph Albert Einstein. As he later explained: "Among the tasks that life as a photographer had set me, a portrait of Albert Einstein had always seemed a 'must' - not only because this greatest refugee of our century has been accounted by all the world as the [most] outstanding scientist since Newton, but because his face, in all its rough grandeur, invited and challenged the camera..." (Karsh: Beyond the Camera, David Travis, ed.). "At Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, I found Einstein a simple, kindly, almost childlike man, too great for any of the postures of eminence. One did not have to understand his science to feel the power of his… Read More

Braunschweig: Druck und Verlag von Friedr Vieweg and Son, 1916. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST PRINTING IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF ONE OF EINSTEIN'S MAJOR WORKS: HIS FIRST PAPER ON THE DERIVATION OF PLANK'S LAW AND PROVIDING THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR THE LASER. "Einstein commended the 'unparalleled boldness' of Planck's derivation of 1900, meaning not only the problem itself but also the fact that it was based on assumptions that were not entirely free of contradictions. Einstein now succeeded in the first of two papers in eliminating that flaw. More interesting than the derivation itself was the general character of his methods. Einstein proceeded from Niels Bohr's basic--and by then well tested--assumption that the electrons within an atom occupy a number of discrete energy states, and are able, through emission or absorption of radiation, to pass from one of those states to another. Added to this was an assumption of thermodynamic equilibrium between radiation field and atom, as… Read More

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1912. First edition. Original wrappers, custom box. Very Good. RARE FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF THE REPORTS FROM THE HISTORIC FIRST SOLVAY CONFERENCE, "THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN PHYSICS EVER ORGANIZED" AND A CRITICAL MOMENT IN THE BIRTH OF QUANTUM PHYSICS. In the short time that followed Planck's hypothesis of the universal constant that would bear his name, the greatest minds in physics were largely at a loss about how to deal with the bizarre theoretical results that followed (let alone the experimental results which confirmed them!). Much of the focus at the time was on black-body radiation, including work by Planck himself, as well as Lorentz, Rayleigh, and Jeans. However, shortly before the first Solvay conference, a young Einstein had also started investigating the related question of materials' specific heat. (Kuhn). "The purpose of the first Solvay Conference was thus two-fold: first, there was the need to examine whether classical theories… Read More

New York: np, 1980. First edition. Clamshell box. Fine. EXTREMELY RARE COMPLETE SUITE OF SEVEN LARGE SILVER PRINTS FROM EINSTEIN'S FAMOUS PHOTO SHOOT AT PRINCETON WITH ROMAN VISHNIAC. Each print is signed by Vishniac and dated "At Princeton 1942" in his hand below the image and numbered on the back. "One day [Vishniac] decided to visit Albert Einstein at Princeton to offer greetings from mutual friends in Berlin. Uninvited, he hoped Einstein would pose for a portrait, but Einstein had little interest. Vishniac recalled: It was a singular experience. An idea had suddenly come to him, and the room was filled with the movement of the great man's thought. I waited several minutes, and then when I saw that he did not intend to say anything more to me and that he was off in a world of his own, I started taking pictures. Einstein later admitted that a Vishniac photograph taken that day was his favorite portrait" (Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography). Vishniac provided details about this… Read More