Manhattan Rare Book Company, ABAA, ILAB

Hardcover. Condizione: Very Good. Condizione sovraccoperta: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, the basis for the 1983 Academy Award winning film starring Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Usual mild age-toning to text, only the slightest wear to extremities of jacket. A beautiful copy.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. Condizione sovraccoperta: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of Cornwell's second published book in the Sharpe series on the Napoleonic Wars. Set in August 1810 during the Peninsular War and featuring the destruction of Almeida. Although it is Cornwell's second book in the series, it is the ninth book chronologically in the fictional epic. London: Harper Collins, 1981. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Book fine, dust jacket price-clipped, otherwise fine.

no binding. Condizione: Fine. 5th edition or later. Beautiful 1660 engraving of the Baths of Caracalla, by Marco Sadeler. Exquisite original engraving from 1660 of Rome showing parts of the Baths of Caracalla. Engraved by Marco Sadeler, part of the most famous European print-making family of the 17th Century. Plate #19 from: Vestigii dussa parte di dentro delle terme d'Antonino caracala. Roma: G.Giacomo de Rossi, 1660. A few stray spots, otherwise fine with exceptionally large margins. Engraving: 14.5 x 10.25 in.; image alone: 10.25 x 6 in.

Soft cover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of one of Prince's most influential books, published in conjunction with the artist's landmark 1989 exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art in Valencia, Spain. Illustrated with over 200 color images and with a preface by Corinne Diserens & Vincent Todoli and an 'interview' with Richard Prince and the author J.G. Ballard. (Valencia, Spain/New York): Aperture/A New Images Book & IVAM/Col.lecció Centre del Carme, (1989). Quarto (286x195mm), original photo-pictorial wrappers. A fine copy.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. Condizione sovraccoperta: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1992. Octavo, original grey boards, original dust jacket. Slight creasing to top of rear panel of dust jacket. A BRIGHT, CLEAN COPY.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. Condizione sovraccoperta: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY O'BRIEN on title page: "To David, Peace, Tim O'Brien." The winner of the 1979 National Book Award. "Going After Cacciato was a breakthrough book not only for O'Brien, but for American literature, the first howl of the Vietnam Vet hurling through the public's disdain. It is that rare gem, a work of American magical realism" (Liz Rosenberg, National Book Foundation). New York: Delacorte, 1978. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Cloth with a touch of fading at edges (as often); dust jacket with striking artwork by M.S. Chaing with only the most minute wear at edges. A beautiful copy.

No Binding. Condizione: Fine. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED by Noel Coward, with content pertaining to theater. Addressed to a young admirer, Robert Bishop, Coward writes: "I was very interested to get your nice letter. I had a miniature theater when I was younger than you & I have never forgotten all the pleasure it gave me. "I think, taken all round, it is a good plan to go to a training school such as Italia Conti - although I did not do so myself. I rather advise it as it is so much easier to get an opening through a school than on one's own. Anyway, all good luck to you. "Yours Sincerely [signed] Noel Coward" Quarto (8x10 in.), one sheet (recto and verso, 1.5 written pages); folds, otherwise fine. WITH: Three letters (three sheets total) on Coward's letterhead to Robert Bishop from Lorn Lorraine, Coward's secretary.

Hardcover. Condizione: Very Good. Condizione sovraccoperta: Very Good. FIRST EDITION OF CREWS' first novel. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1968. Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. Book very good with slight lean but no discoloration to endpapers (as usual); dust jacket near fine with only most minimal wear. A superb copy.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. Condizione sovraccoperta: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of Truman Capote's first novel. Published in 1948, when Capote was only 23 years old, "Other Voices almost immeditaely jumped onto the New York Times best-seller list, where it remained for nine weeks. It sold more than 26,000 copies. Although many other novels of 1948, including Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and Irwin Shaw's The Young Lions, outsold it several times over, no other was so much discussed, or became so controversial. Truman's reputation, which had been building among literary people since "Miriam," exploded in all directions. People who had never walked into a bookstore suddenly knew the name and, most certainly, the face of Truman Capote" (Clarke, Capote). New York: Random House, 1948. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Book fine; dust jacket clean and bright with light toning to spine and a few tiny abrasions. A very attractive copy.

No Binding. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. Large initial "D" cut from a Spanish antiphonal (c. 1500) richly painted on parchment. Initial painted in shades of brown on a decorated purple background. Framed in a lovely gold frame with custom matting and UV protected glass. A few spots of flaking and a hint of rippling; colors strong and dark. Frame Size: 10x12 inches (255x305mm); Cutting: 3.5x5 inches (90x130mm).

No Binding. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. Brightly painted initial "E" cut from a Spanish antiphonal (c. 1500) on parchment. Initial painted in gold & red on a beautifully decorated violet background framed in gold.A little flecking at border, otherwise fine. Initial is framed in a lovely gold frame with custom matting and UV protected glass. Frame Size: 10x12 inches (255x305 mm) Cutting: 3.75x4.5 inches (113x93 mm).

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION of one of Newton's most successful books, illustrated with 180 black-and-white photographs. Although the limitation is not stated, it is believed that the edition was limited to 200 copies. (New York): Xavier Moreau Inc., (1984). Tall quarto, original silver-stamped gray cloth, original slipcase. A fine copy.

Hardcover. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of Kipling's popular nautical tale, with vivid descriptions of the Massachusetts fishing industry. The basis for the 1937 film starring Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, and Mickey Rooney. London: Macmillan, 1897. Octavo, original cloth gilt, all edges gilt. With illustrations by I.W. Taber. Book slightly cocked (as often); a few spots to cloth, crease to rear endpaper. Text unusually clean and cloth gilt bright. Without scarce dust jacket.

Soft cover. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, profusely illustrated with full-page black and white photographs. Warhol's Moderna Muséet catalog "is a fine example of the catalogue-as-artist's-book, a form that ostensibly began with the Dadaists and Surrealists, and is produced with some of the roughest reproductions ever seen, which are entirely appropriate, and supplemented by a long section of Factory snapshots by Billy Name. The genre was revitalized by the Pop movement, and Warhol in particular, which demonstrates his position as a latter-day Dadaist. The Moderna Museet publication especially had a great influence upon Japanese photography in the late 1960s and 1970s, particularly the photobooks of the Provoke era" (Parr and Badger, Vol II). Published by Moderna Muséet, Sweden, in 1968 as an exhibition catalogue for the show "Andy Warhol" at the Moderna Muséet in Stockholm, February - March, 1968. Stockholm: Moderna Muséet, 1968. Quarto (approx. 8.5 x 10.5 in.), original illustrated paper wrappers. Small piece of tape at top of spine; superficial split at center of glue binding (as often), everything holding. An outstanding copy of a fragile book that is extremely prone to wear.

Soft cover. Condizione: Fine. Condizione sovraccoperta: Fine. 1st Edition. First French edition, SIGNED BY BECKETT on title page; one of only 112 copies printed on "bouffant select marques" and reserved for the publishers. A collection of six short plays, translated from English by Beckett. Includes: Comédie, Va et vient, Cascando, Paroles et musique, Dis Joe, Acte sans paroles II. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, (1966). Octavo, original printed wrappers; glassine. Unopened. A FINE COPY.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of one of the most important papers in the history of statistics, introducing the 'chi-squared' test of goodness of fit, "one of the most useful of all statistical tests" and "one of Pearson's greatest single contributions to statistical methodology" (DSB). "Specification or stochastic modeling of data is an important step in statistical analysis of data. Karl Pearson was the first to recognize this problem and introduce criterion, in a paper published in 1900, to examine whether the observed data support a given specification. He called it chi-squared goodness-of-fit test, which motivated research in testing of hypotheses and estimation of unknown parameters and led to the development of statistics as a separate discipline. In an article entitled "Trial by Number", [Ian] Hacking says that the goodness of fit chi-square test introduced by Karl Pearson (1900) 'ushered in a new kind of decision making' and gives it a place among the top 20 discoveries since 1900 considering all branches of science and technology" (C.R. Rao, "Karl Pearson Chi-Square Test: The Dawn of Statistical Inference"). In: Philosophical Magazine, Series 5, Vol 50, pp. 157-175. Complete volume (July-Dec 1900) offered. London: Taylor & Francis, 1900. Octavo, modern cloth. Provenance: with library stamp on volume title from the prestigious Gmelin Institute (after 1996, part of the Max Planck Institute). A fine copy.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND DATED BY MAURICE SENDAK (1981). A delightful collaboration between Sendak and Keeshan, better known for his role as Captain Kangaroo. Text by Robert Keeshan. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. 16mo. Original color pictorial boards, original dustjacket. Rare signed.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. 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), Einstein was again shaking the foundations of classical physics" (Honner, The Description of Nature, 31). Particle Physics: One Hundred Years of Discoveries: "Corpuscular-wave dualism for photons. Explanation of the photoelectric effect using the quantum hypothesis of Planck. Nobel prize to A. Einstein awarded in 1921 'for services to Theoretical Physics, and especially of he law of the photoelectric effect.'" Weil *12. The Principle of Conservation of Motion of the Center of Gravity and the Inertia of Energy: Einstein's further development of E=mc2. Einstein boldly uses his relationship to insist that the conservation of mass is a special case of the conservation of energy and broadens the law to include not only mechanical, but electromagnetic processes as well. Weil 13. IN: Annalen der Physik, Vol. 20, pp. 199-206; 627-633. Leipzig: Barth, 1906. Octavo, modern full green morocco. Rippling to the first few leaves of volume (not affecting Einstein papers). Provenance: with library stamp on series title from the prestigious Gmelin Institute (after 1996, part of the Max Planck Institute). Very handsomely bound.

Soft cover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of the discovery of the "Lamb shift" "Shortly after World War II, Lamb began his work to check the accuracy of the predictions of Paul Dirac as they related to the energy levels and spectral lines of hydrogen. Dirac's quantum mechanical theory predicted that the hydrogen atom had two possible energy states with equal energies. Lamb's accurate work using radiofrequency resonance techniques, reported in 1947, revealed that there was a minute difference in these energy levels. Small as it was, this Lamb shift necessitated a revision of the theory of the interaction of the electron with electromagnetic radiation. For this work Lamb was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics, which he shared with another leader of research at Columbia, Polykarp Kusch, with whom he had performed wartime research in developing microwave radar" (.Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists). Particle Physics: One Hundred Years of Discoveries: "First measurements of the fine structure of the hydrogen atom, the Lamb shift. Nobel prize to W.E. Lamb awarded in 1955 'for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum.'" IN: The Physical Review, Vol 72, No 3, August 1, 1947, pp. 241-243. Lancaster, PA., and New York, NY: American Physical Society, 1947. Quarto, original wrappers. Tiny bump to outer edge, otherwise fine. Rare in wrappers.

Soft cover. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. The Czech translation of Proust's masterpiece, complete in original wrappers, with book design by Karel Teige. With simple designs, distinctive topography and titles printed in red and black, Teige's edition of Proust is a quintessential example of his work and a classic representation of the Czech avant-garde. Praha [Prague]: Odeon, 1927-1930. Complete in 15 volumes with the supplement (Benjamin Cremieux, Marcel Proust, 1928). Octavo, original wrappers in various colors. Owner signatures. General minor wear to wrappers, fading to spines. First title page neatly detached. A monument of book design; rare in original wrappers.

Original wrappers. Condizione: Good. First edition. FIRST EDITION ASSOCIATION COPY SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ANDRÉ BRETON. Written within the span of only three weeks during the summer of 1930, André Breton and Paul Éluard's L'Immaculée Conception is a quintessential example of the Surrealist practice of automatic writing. While Surrealism today may at first evoke painters such as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, Surrealism was demarcated by its founders, namely Breton, as an experiment as much, if not more, in language and literature as the visual arts. Thus, the process of automatic writing which he developed across his lifetime sits at the heart of the first Surrealist Manifesto (1924)-and L'Immaculée Conception represents a pinnacle automatic text executed by two of the major Surrealist vanguards themselves. In a 1961 interview with Judith Jasmin, Breton maintained that the mission of Surrealism has been the same since 1924, and that Surrealism continues to be defined as: "automatisme psychique pur, par lequel on se proposait d'exprimer, par écrit ou de tout autre manière, le véritable mécanisme de la pensée. Il s'agissait d'une dicté de la pensée en dehors de tout contrôle-et ceci était très important-de tout contrôle exercé par la raison et en dehors de toute préoccupation esthétique ou morale." (Breton, 1961) [pure psychic automation, by which one proposes to express, in writing or any other manner, the true mechanism of thought. It was a dictation of thought beyond any control-and this was very important-any control exercised by reason and beyond any aesthetic or moral concern.] Barring re-reading and editing, the authors consequently forbade themselves "d'apprecier encours de route le produit de cette activité" [from appreciating, en route, the product of this activity] (Breton, 1961). At times losing "syntactical clarity" and "grammatical intelligibility", L'Immaculée Conception interrogates what it means to be human and divine and tackles sacred Christian doctrine in a meeting of Breton's and Éluard's characteristic wits (Conley, p. 607). Skirting all censorship and demonstrating an intelligence defiantly detached from the human faculties of reason and logic, L'Immaculée Conception reinforces the Surrealist style of surprise and inverted expectation. This first edition copy is signed by André Breton to Monique Fong (a.k.a. Monique Fong Wust) with the following inscription: "'Le rosier d'écume de mer' à Monique Fong avec les affectueux compliments d'André Breton" ["'The sea-foam rose' to Monique Font with the affectionate compliments of André Breton"] In this personalised message, Breton quotes from the penultimate chapter's final section, "L'idée du devenir": "Si c'était à recommencer, si c'était à recommencer. Le rosier d'écume de mer est debout à côté de moi dans ce portrait poétiquement définitif" (Breton and Éluard, p. 110) [If I had to star over, if I had to start over. the sea-foam rose stands at my side in this poetically-definitive portrait.] A Surrealist writer and intellectual closely connected with many other prominent champions of the movement, Fong Wust first met Breton at a party hosted by Claude Lévi-Strauss and would later maintain a lifelong correspondence with Marcel Duchamp-documenting much of the movement's aims, ambitions and successes. The book is number 179 of 2,000 copies printed on hand-made paper from Sorel-Moussel. Formerly "la véritable capitale du papier" [the true capital of paper], Sorel-Moussel is a village in northern France renown for its paper mills constructed in 1814 and operated by famed printer Firmin Didot, which ceased production in the later half of the twentieth century (Cathelinais, p. 5). References: André Breton, "Le sel de la semaine", interview by Judith Jasmin, Radio-Canada (27 February, 1961), C. Cathelinais, "L'ancienne papeterie devenue entrepôt abritera une turbine électrique", Paris-Normande (26 February, 1987) Katharine Conley, "Writing the Virgin's Body: Breton and Eluard's Immaculée Conception", The French Review 67.4 (1994), 600-608 BRETON, ANDRÉ and ÉLUARD, PAUL. L'Immaculée Conception. Paris: Surréalistes, 1930. Quarto (7¼ x 9¼ inch; 184 x 235 mm), number 179 of 2,000 copies printed on papier impondérable hand-made in Sorel-Moussel; pp. 130; originals wrappers, glassine; housed in a custom presentation box. Front wrapper detached (but held snugly under glassine), text block with splits. Fading to spine and perimeter of wrapper. RARE SIGNED, AND WITH AN INTERESTING ASSOCIATION.

nb. Condizione: Very Good. FIRST EDITION OFFPRINTS. RARE FIRST EDITION OFFPRINTS of Gamow and Teller's early papers on cosmology, including "a kind of blueprint" for Gamow's later theory of the Big Bang. In "On the Origin of Great Nebulae," "written jointly with Edward Teller, his friend and colleague at George Washington University, Gamow dealt for the first time explicitly with the Friedmann-Lemaitre equations. The two authors concluded that, 'our theory of nebular formation requires that the velocity of expansion remains nearly constant while the distances between nebulae increase by a factor of 600.' In the last section, they considered the cosmological consequences which they discussed from the form of the fundamental (Friedmann-Lemaitre) equation for the expanding universe as given by Richard Tolman in his important textbook of 1934? [and concluded]: 'Thus in order to understand the formation of great nebulae and to satisfy the condition of continuity at the moment of their separation, it is necessary to accept the hypothesis that space is infinite and ever expanding.' As they noted, this went against the conclusion that Edwin Hubble and Tolman had reached in 1935, namely that the universe must be closed and uncomfortably small. However, Gamow and Teller argued that the discrepancy might be resolved if it was admitted that the absolute luminosities of very distant (hence young) galaxies were higher than those nearer by. This idea was to play an important role in cosmology in the 1950s, but in 1939 it was merely a suggestion that lacked independent support. "Gamow's work with Teller of 1939 was based on the expanding universe but did not presuppose any explosive event in the past, what ten years later would be coined the big bang. All they had to say about the state of the universe before the separation of the nebulae about 1.8 billion years ago was, 'Before that time, space must have been uniformly populated by stars, or by gas molecules, if we suppose that the formation of stars took place after the separation of nebulae.' Although still in the pre-big-bang tradition, the paper was in several respects to serve as a kind of blueprint for Gamow's later contributions to cosmology" (Kox and Eisenstaedt, The Universe of General Relativity). In "Energy Production in Red Giants," published two weeks after "On the Origin of Great Nebulae," Gamow and Teller "carried out one of the earliest studies of the temperature dependence of thermonuclear reaction rates and applied their ideas to an investigation of energy production in red giant stars" (Libby and Bibber, Edward Teller Centennial Symposium). On the Origin of Great Nebulae. Offprint from: Physical Review, Vol. 55, April 1, 1939, pp. 654-657. Four pages, as issued without wrappers. Light edgewear, a little foxing. Energy Production in Red Giants. Offprint from: Physical Review, Vol 55, April 15, 1939. One page, as issued without wrappers. Small closed tear to margin, otherwise fine. Lancaster and New York: American Institute of Physics, 1939. Housed together in custom cloth case. RARE.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of the first description of WIlson's famous cloud chamber, the first type of detector to show the tracks of elementary particles. Cloud chambers "developed from the work of Charles Wilson at the Cavendish Laboratory in the 1890's. He was interested in creating artificial mist, in order to investigate its effect on light, and did so by building a desktop-sized apparatus in which a glass chamber full of moist air was connected to a piston which could be suddenly moved outward, lowering the pressure and causing mist (or cloud) to form in the chamber. The mist droplets grow on tiny particles of dust in the air (cloud condensation nuclei). But, to his surprise, Wilson found that even when all the dust had been removed from the chamber, when the piston was rapidly moved out over a large distance a very thin mist still formed in the chamber. He surmised that the droplets were condensing around electrically charged particles (ions), and proved this, early in 1896, by operating the cloud chamber alongside a source of X-rays (X-rays had only been discovered in the preceding year) and seeing it fill up with condensation as the X-rays passing through it ionized the atoms in the air inside the chamber. Cloud chambers became an essential tool of physics (it was a cloud chamber photograph, for example, that first revealed the existence of the positron) and grew much larger, many being several meters across. They are still used, although superseded for many purposes by other detectors, including bubble chambers and wire chambers." (Gribben, Q is for Quantum). Wilson shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapour." Also includes an early paper by Ernest Rutherford, "A Magnetic Detector of Electrical Waves and some of its Applications" (p. 1-24). IN:Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, pp. 265-307. London: Harrison and Sons, 1897. Quarto, original publisher's burgundy blind-stamped cloth. A fine copy.

Soft cover. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS, of Arrhenius's landmark discovery of the theory of electrolytic disassociation. Arrhenius was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered to the advancement of chemistry by his electrolytic theory of dissociation." By 1880, "it was known that solutions of certain compounds conduct electricity and that chemical reactions could occur when a current was passed. It was thought that the current decomposed the substance. In 1883 Arrhenius proposed a theory that substances were partly converted into an active form when dissolved. The active part was responsible for conductivity. In the case of acids and bases, he correlated the strength with the degree of decomposition on solution. This work was published as Reserches sur la conductibilite galvanique des electrolytes (1884; Researches on the Electrical Conductivity of Electrolytes) and submitted as his doctoral dissertation. Arrhenius sent his work to several leading physical chemists, including Jacobus van't Hoff. Friedrich Ostwald, and Rudolf Clausius, who were immediately impressed" (Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists). Arrhenius soon gained high international acclaim, ultimately being awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work. Recherches sur la conductabilite galvanique des electrolytes. Two volumes. Bihang till K. Svenska Vet.-Akad. handlingar, volume 8, nos.13 & 14. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1884. Octavo (216 x 136mm), both volumes in original printed wrappers. One plate (volume 1). Owner's initials at base of top wrapper to volume two. Both wrappers neatly split along top joint- volume two detached and volume one literally hanging by a thread; otherwise fine. WITH: Three others by or about Arrhenius: Undersokning med Rheotom ofver den galvaniska polarisationens forsvinnade (Stockholm, 1882), The Foundations of the Theory of Dilute Solutions . Electrolytic Dissociation by Svante Arrhenius (Edinburgh, 1961) and Svante Arrhenius till 100-arsinnet av hans fodelse (Uppsala, 1959). All contained in a folding cloth box.

Hardcover. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION, illustrated with 65 images of the Jewish ghetto in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. With preface by poet Zalman Chneour in Hebrew and German. "In the same year that his Paris was published, Moà Ver - under his real name of Moshà Vorobeichic- produced Ein Ghetto im Osten (A Ghetto in the East). The book, with both Hebrew and German text, featured his photographic record of the Jewish ghetto in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, documenting a way of life that would soon disappear under terrible circumstances. Even more so than Paris, Ein Ghetto im Osten was ostensibly a documentary book, but as he had done in his view of the French city, Moà Ver could not resist pushing the envelope of the documentary form. Once again, he used a variety of New Vision strategies, the most obvious being to take many images from upstairs windows looking on to the narrow streets of Vilnius's old Jewish quarter. This creates odd angles and a dynamic mise en scà ne for his pictures of people going about their everyday business on the street.But Moà Ver didn't stop there. He also introduced cinematic cutting and montaging techniques to heighten the interest. A poignancy has been added [to Ein Ghetto im Osten] in hindsight: it was made at the beginning of a desperately traumatic time for European Jewry" (Parr/Badger, The Photobook). Zurich and Leipzig: Orell Fussli, 1931. Small octavo, publisher's photo-illustrated boards. Very minor rubbing, some foxing to the early and end leaves, some light soiling, generally an excellent copy.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of two landmark journals documenting the revolutionary invention of the transistor: the April 1949 issue of The Bell System Technical Journal containing the first description of the invention (published simultaneously in The Physical Review), and the famous July 1949 "Semiconductor Issue" dedicated entirely to the discuss of the transistor and semiconductor devices. The entire 1949 volume offered. "In the 1930s, Bell Labs scientists were trying to use ultrahigh frequency waves for telephone communications, and needed a more reliable detection method than the vacuum tube, which proved incapable of picking up rapid vibrations. John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley spearheaded the Bell Labs effort to develop a new means of amplification," developing, by 1948, a novel device that would effectively amplify and control electric signals. "At roughly half an inch high, the first transistor was huge by today's standards, when 7 million transistors can fit onto a single silicon chip. But it was the very first solid state device capable of doing the amplification work of a vacuum tube, earning Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. More significantly, it spawned an entire industry and ushered in the Information Age, revolutionizing global society" (The American Physical Society). The 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect". Also included is Claude Shannon's Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems (pp. 656-715). BARDEEN, J., and BRATTAIN, W. H. Physical Principles Involved in Transistor Action. In The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 1949 (pp. 239-277). WITH: BARDEEN, J., and BRATTAIN, W.H., and SHOCKLEY, W., et al. The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 28, No. 3. July, 1949. New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1949. Octavo, contemporary blue buckram. The whole volume with all the issues for 1949 (753 pages, complete with contents and index). Fine copy.

Condizione: Fine. Condizione sovraccoperta: Fine. First edition. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ROBERTS ON THE TITLE PAGE: "May all those you love find the truth in you and be true to your love. November 2003 Gregory David Roberts" "In 1980, while serving a 19-year sentence for robbery in Australia, Roberts escaped from prison and fled to India, spending a decade on the lam before he was recaptured and extradited. As Australia's most wanted man -- or so he describes himself in this fictionalized account of his years in Bombay -- Roberts was a larger-than-life figure in his native country long before 'Shantaram' made him a best-selling author" (Megan O'Grady, The New York Times).? "Shantaram is a novel of the first order, a work of extraordinary art, a thing of exceptional beauty. If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, every thing in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond: He makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world" (Pat Conroy).? Melbourne: Scribe Publications, 2003. Thick octavo, original red cloth, original dust jacket. A fine copy. Note: This rare Australian first edition, first issue (with "Scribe" not in parenthesis on rear jacket flap), precedes all other editions. original cloth, original dust jacket.

Original wrappers, custom box. Condizione: Very Good. First edition. THE GROUNDBREAKING APPEARANCE OF DIANE ARBUS'S PHOTOGRAPH'S IN ARTFORUM. By 1971, "an appreciation of [Arbus's] photography was building in the art world at large. The most gratifying acknowledgement of her as an artist came not from a museum but from a magazine. Through Henry Geldzahler, the contemporary-art curator at the Metropolitan Museum, Arbus arranged a meeting with Philip Leider. The founding editor of Artforum, an influential monthly art magazine that championed modernism, Leider regarded the sculptor and land artist Robert Smithson as the most significant artist of the day. He had never featured a photographer in his pages. He didn't believe photography mixed with painting and sculpture; he wasn't even convinced that it was an art form. But he agreed to meet Geldzahler in Arbus's apartment and look at the pictures in her portfolio. "Even though he was very aware of Arbus by reputation, he didn't know her work well. The box of ten photographs astounded him. He wanted to reproduce all of the pictures in his magazine. Arbus offered him stacks of other photographs, which he looked through as she chatted with Geldzahler. A central tenet of modernism, as formulated most forcefully by the critic Clement Greenberg, is that a painter or sculptor should respect and exploit the capacities and limitations of the form in which he works. Since a canvas is flat, for example, a painter mustn't resort to trickery that would suggest otherwise. He should emphasize the flatness. Studying Arbus's pictures, Leider concluded 'that Diane's work accomplished for photography what we demanded be accomplished, under the needs of Modernism, for all arts: it owed nothing to any other art. What it had to offer could only be provided by photography.' He committed himself to publishing her work. He ended up not being able to use all ten of the photographs, but he did take six, giving each a full page. Indeed, for one of them-the pro-war demonstrator in the straw boater-he went a step further. He placed it on the cover. To jump from never including a photographer to assigning one the most prominent place in the magazine was a huge leap. The showcase for Arbus in the May 1971 issue of Artforum marked a key moment in the recognition of photography as more than a handmaiden or stepsister of art. Fully fledged, photography had flown the nest. It was a grown-up art form, with Arbus clearly a leader" (Arthur Lubow, Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer). With Arbus's "poetic and gnomic" text-five short standalone paragraphs-introducing her work (ibid.). Tragically, Arbus would commit suicide only two months later, in July 1971. "Five Photographs by Diane Arbus". IN: Artforum, May 1971, Volume IX, No. 9. Quarto (10.5x10.5 inches); custom cloth box. Light rubbing to wrapper covers; text fine. An outstanding copy of a critically important issue that has become difficult to find in collectible condition.

Hardcover. Condizione: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH in original cloth of Hertz's collected papers on electromagnetic waves; the foundation for wireless communication. "By inducing the waves to produce an electrical spark at a distance, with no apparent connection between the oscillator and the spark gap, and by moving the sparking apparatus so that the length of the spark varied, Hertz proved beyond question the passage of electric waves through space" (Printing and the Mind of Man, 377). Originally published in German in 1892, the collected edition gathers together Hertz's important journal publications from 1887-1892 with the addition of an introduction in which Hertz surveys and analyzes his work of the past five years. PMM (Printing and the Mind of Man), 377 (for the German edition). Translated by David Evan Jones. Preface by William Thompson, Lord Kelvin. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1893. Octavo, original cloth; custom slipcase. Hinges splitting but holding; small repair to original cloth; text fine. In presentation slipcase: Hughes Aircraft Company Division Invention Award Presented to J.H. Myer, 1976.

Hardcover. Condizione: Fine. 1st Edition. FIRST PRINTING of Hertz's first three papers on electromagnetic waves; the foundation for wireless communication. "Experimental proof by Hertz of the Faraday-Maxwell hypothesis that electrical waves can be projected through space was begun in 1887, eight years after Maxwell's death. The two main requirements were (a) a method of producing the waves, supposing that they existed, and (b) a method of detecting them once they were produced. Hertz found the first problem easy to solve. He used the oscillatory discharge of a condenser. Detection was much more difficult, because there then existed no means of detecting currents alternating at the high speed of these waves. Hertz in fact used an effect as old as the discovery of electricity itself- the electric spark. By inducing the waves to produce an electrical spark at a distance, with no apparent connection between the oscillator and the spark gap, and by moving the sparking apparatus so that the length of the spark varied, Hertz proved beyond question the passage of electric waves through space. The experiments were reported periodically from 1887 onward in Annalen der Physik und Chemie" (Printing and the Mind of Man, 377). PMM 377 (for the collected edition). In the important first paper of his study, Hertz describes the ingenious apparatus he had devised to produce, detect, and measure the electromagnetic waves, the key to all his later discoveries. The three papers together represent the groundwork and birth of wireless communication. "This discovery and its demonstration led directly to radio communication, television and radar" (Dibner, Heralds of Science, 71). Also includes articles by many other notable scientists including Planck, Clausius, Bunsen, Boltzmann, Rontgen, and Helmholtz. "Ueber sehr schnelle electrische Schwingungen." with: "Nachtrag zu der Abhandlung über sehr schnelle electrische Schwingungen." with: "Ueber einen Einfluss des ultravioletten Lichtes auf die electrische Entladung." In: Annalen der Physik, Neue Folge, Band XXXI. The whole volume offered. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1887. Thick octavo, recent period-style three-quarter black morocco over marbled boards. With seven fold-out plates including two illustrating Hertz's work. Closed tear along fold of one plate, otherwise a fine copy, handsomely bound.