Atomic bomb core hemisphere. No place, c. 1942-44

This evocative relic of the first atomic bomb was preserved by the first metallurgist of the Manhattan Project’s Metallurgical Laboratory, Jules Simmons.

$11,000

Teletype covering the Normandy landings on D-Day. Associated Press, 5 and 6 June 1944

First announcement of the D-Day landings, perhaps the most important event of the 20th century.

$9,500

Idolatry & Confusion. London Gallery Editions, [1944]

Inscribed to René Magritte: “A René Magritte, ces textes mal informés en 1944, écrit en hâte, mais prophétiques. E. L. T. Mesens.” This scarce English Surrealist tract attacks the so-called resistance poetry of Paul Eluard and Aragon as “conformist.”

$1,700

Troisième front poèmes de guerre suivi de pièces detachés. Third front & detached pieces. London Gallery Editions, 1944

FIRST EDITION. Copy number 18 of 500 signed and numbered by Mesens. Inscribed to René Magritte and his wife: “A Georgette Magritte A René Magritte, l’exemplaire réservé pour lui, sa Femme, Noukels et Barfoot, depuis 1944. E. M.”

$2,000

The Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care. No Place, [ca. 1946.]

Spock’s book helped to revolutionize child-rearing in post-war America. Within one year of its first publication the book sold 750,000 copies, and it has since sold more than 50 million copies in ten editions and more than 40 languages. “When it appeared in 1946, the advice in Dr. Spock’s now classic book was a dramatic break from the prevailing ‘expert’ opinion. Rather than force a baby into a strict behavioral schedule, Spock, who had training in both pediatrics and psychiatry, encouraged parents to use their own judgment and common sense” (NYPL Books of the Century).

$35,000

Space Flight … When? [and] Space Flight. Westwood, New Jersey, 1946

This rare fanzine was printed in tiny numbers. We have found traces of the 1946 number on the Internet, but the 1947 number appears to be even more rare. Each number publishes the result of the author’s survey of science fiction writers, editors, and aficionados concerning the likelihood of space travel for humans.

two volumes: $750

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1948

FIRST EDITION of this classic, a book that helped usher in the sexual revolution.

$3,500

Economics: An Introductory Analysis.. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948

First edition of the greatest and most influential modern economics text-book. Inscribed by Samuelson for Eric Roll. Roll, professor of economics and later chairman of S. G. Warburg & Co., wrote the classic History of Economic Thought (1938, 4th ed., 1973).

$8,500

The Naked and the Dead. New York and Toronto: Rinehart, 1948

First edition of Norman Mailer’s landmark first novel. This is the first printing, with the Rinehart colophon on copyright page, and in the first issue dust jacket without reviews on rear flap.

$3,500

The Second World War. London: Cassell, 1948-1954

FIRST ENGLISH EDITIONS. Signed and dated by Churchill in the first volume.

$18,500