Albert Einstein - Out of my later years - New York 1950 - First edition - Copy with the rare dust jacket - Portrait ...

Albert Einstein - Out of my later years - New York 1950 - First edition - Copy with the rare dust jacket - Portrait of Einstein by Lotte Jacobi

Out of My Later Years - by Albert Einstein. Published by Philosophical Library, New York, 1950 - first edition. Rare copy with the original paper jacket depicting Einstein's portrait taken by the Jewish photographer Lotte Jacobi.

A collection of essays written by Einstein in the last 15 years of his life between 1934-1950. The essays deal with his attitudes towards religion, education, human faith, politics, Jewish affairs, war and peace, fundamentals of physics, and more. In several chapters of the book Einstein explains the theory of relativity in simple terms accessible to everyone. The book provides insights into Einstein the philosopher, scientist and man. The essays are reproduced in their exact words without any editing.

In known copies of the first edition, the dust jacket has no image at all. Before us is a rare copy with a dust jacket bearing Einstein's portrait taken by the Jewish photographer Lotte Jacobi. It is unclear why the publisher chose to design the dust jacket differently. We have seen more than one dust jacket design for copies of the first edition, some with no image, some in black and white with a drawing of Einstein, and some with a different lettering style. However, before us is a rare copy with a dust jacket featuring Einstein's portrait as photographed by Jacobi.

Lotte Jacobi [1896-1990] was a Jewish German-American photographer who photographed many of her famous acquaintances including Käthe Kollwitz, Wystan Hugh Auden, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Martin Buber, Marc Chagall, Chaim Weizmann and others. Some regard her work as a "chronicle of an era" because she photographed so many important 20th century figures.

251 p. 19 cm. Hardcover with original dust jacket. Very good condition.