Bidspirit auction | ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955), EINSTEIN'S THEORIES

ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955), EINSTEIN'S THEORIES OF RELATIVITY AND GRAVITATION BOOK - ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955), EINSTEIN'S THEORIES OF RELATIVITY AND GRAVITATION BOOK Signature: Albert Einstein Description: A vintage hardcover edition of Einstein's Theories of Relativity and Gravitation, compiled and edited with introductory material by J. Malcolm Bird and published by the Scientific American Publishing Company, Munn & Co., New York, in 1922. The volume presents a selection of essays submitted in competition for the Eugene Higgins Prize and was conceived as an accessible contemporary examination of Albert Einstein's revolutionary theories of relativity and gravitation at a moment when his scientific ideas were transforming modern physics and attracting extraordinary international attention. This second revised edition belongs to the formative period in which relativity was becoming widely discussed beyond specialist scientific circles, shortly after observations of the 1919 solar eclipse brought dramatic public recognition to Einstein and only a year after he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. The volume retains its dark cloth binding with gilt lettering and a distinctive scientific diagram stamped to the front board, while the title page records the Scientific American association, publication details, and 1922 date. The title page is written with the signature ”Albert Einstein” together with the equation ”E = mc², ” creating a particularly notable association between Einstein, a contemporary publication devoted to his theories, and the equation that became one of the most recognizable expressions in the history of modern science. As a collectible combining an early twentieth-century publication devoted specifically to relativity and gravitation with Einstein's signature and scientific notation, this example represents a highly desirable piece of scientific and intellectual history. The volume exhibits age-related toning, rubbing and surface wear to the cloth binding, edge and corner wear, losses and fraying at the spine extremities, and handling consistent with an early twentieth-century hardcover publication.