Auction Date:2010 Oct 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS in German, signed “A. Einstein,” one page, 8.5 x 11, blind-stamped personal letterhead, Princeton, January 15, 1936. Letter to Dr. Frank Kingdon, president of the University of Newark. In full: (translated): “It is very kind of you to take such an interest in a scientist who has been exiled without any fault of his. In this case, however, it is rather difficult for me to be of any assistance, since I am in no position to judge the value of research in the field of chemistry, and therefore would attach no weight to my recommendation of a chemist. I believe that in such cases the most effective aid would consist in contacting institutes and factories which are engaged in this sphere in the United States and which offer opportunities for employment. I know from other cases that personal interviews are everywhere an indispensable premise of success if there are not previous personal contacts.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, and a paperclip impression to top edge. Letter is housed in a blue cloth four-fold portfolio with flaps; turkey-marbled inside left and right flaps. Titled “Albert Einstein T.L.S. January 15, 1936 to Dr. Frank Kingdon” on spine in gilt on red label. Einstein may have empathized with the plight of Dr. Kingdon’s associate, but realized that even he had his limits. The brilliant physicist, by his own claim here, was unfamiliar with the gentleman in question and therefore was “in no position to judge the value of research in the field of chemistry.” Even a kind word from a Nobel Prize winner “would attach no weight to my recommendation of a chemist...if there are not previous personal contacts.” It is not surprising that Kingdon, this letter’s original recipient, would have asked famed scientist for assistance. Einstein, who fled Nazi Germany, worked tirelessly to help others fleeing Europe, and both of these brilliant men eventually becoming mainstays in the Allied fight to destroy Germany. Kingdon had been an outspoken anti-Nazi since the late 1920s and later became the first chairman of the Emergency Rescue Committee. In 1942, that organization merged with Einstein’s International Relief Association to create the International Rescue Committee.
Auction Location:
5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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