JF Ptak Science Books // Blog Bookstore

Rare Work by Abraham Maslow (1962)

MASLOW, Abraham.  Summer Notes on Social Psychology of Industry and Management at Non-Linear Systems, Inc, Del Mar, California.  Published by Non-Linear Systems, 1962. 11.5x8" 148 leaves.  (This is misleading: the pages are single spaced and have 50+ lines/page with 15+words/line, making this document about 100,000 words, or more along the lines of a 250pp book.) 1500.00

Three-ring holed held together with brass holders, with thickish NLS wrappers.  Very good copy.  

WorldCat/OCLC identifies 12 locations for the work--however, I cannot identify a paper copy, as they all may be electronic copies.  For example, St. Andrews, San Diego, and McGill (my school) identify their copies explicitly as e-books; and then the obvious ones are Google, Hathi Trust, and UC Mass Digitalization. Then there are three (like U New Mexico) where when you go to the school's records the OCLC number is "not found" or "your OCLC number would be here" but isn't.  The remaining three are inconclusive.  Obviously someone has an original somewhere, but I'm not sure where that is.  The OCLC 12 is therefore misleading.  At best there are three cases where maybe-but-probably-not the libraries have a paper copy. I'd say conservatively that the OCLC number is three, but it may actually be one.  

This is an interesting document by a major psychology name poking around in a new field. I reproduce the author's statement in (nearly) full because it tell exactly what Maslow was doing. 

"I had never before had any contact with industrial or managerial psychology, so the possibilities for psychological theory hit me with great force as I read first the books by Drucker and McGregor that are used as "textbooks" at Non-Linear, and as I began to understand what Andrew Kay was trying to do there.I started dictating my impressions to the tape recorder. They are mimeographed here without editing, addition, subtraction, or other change, beyond correction of typographical and grammatical errors, to be passed out to my friends for discussion, because I don't know if they will ever be published more formally."

"I have been told by enough people that they are interesting and useful to make me
agree to this informal kind of communication. They should be understood as first impressions, unformed, not further worked up, of a theoretical psychologist taking his first look at a new (for him) field of knowledge and realizing that it was of great import for various of his theoretical concerns (and vice versa). I have learned in other contexts that the novice can often see things that the expert overlooks through long familiarization."

Jacqueline Kennedy Letter from Georgetown University Hospital, 5 December 1960

Typed and ALs, Jacqueline Kennedy writing from the hospital, 5 December 1960.

Date: 5 December 1960

Pages and Size: 11”x 8.5”

Rarity or scarcity: unique

Provenance: from the estate of Gladys Beauchamp, press secretary to Mrs. Kennedy, 1960.

Price: Hold

Condition:  VG condition, with two old horizontal folds and a couple of very light old vertical fold impressions. There is also a tiny 3mm tear along the bottom left horizontal fold. (Condition grading is compared to the condition of the publication when it was new;  to give a condition quote that states "good for its age" comparing something to a fluid state without a common denominator is almost without value, so the publication is compared to its condition when it was first published.)

The images I've included here accentuate the old folds--in "real life" (so to speak) the letter is nicer looking than in the scan.  (Better to be pleasantly surprised than the opposite.)  

This is a typed letter written to Jackie Kennedy from her press secretary, Gladys Beauchamp, in December 1960. This is the period following John Kennedy's election (3 November) and the birth of their son John Kennedy Jr. (25 November, 1960). Mrs. Kennedy was in Georgetown University Hospital from (at least) 25 Nov to her release on either 9 or 10 December following a difficulty and Cesarean delivery; the family left for Florida that day. Ms. Beauchamp reiterates that one of Mrs. Kennedy's doctors—Dr. Walsh—wants her to rest.

Ms. Beauchamp runs interference for Mrs. Kennedy, shielding her from inquiries and requests from correspondents and reporters for interviews and to respond to submitted questions. She does need to be clear that Mrs. Kennedy wants no interference from the media.  

To Ms. Beauchamps' letter Mrs. Kennedy sends her handwritten responses at the bottom of the letter:

Mrs.. Kennedy's response:

• “Can't do any interviews before I get to Florida—or before I am in White House. None will be done in Florida. Please don't forward more any questions. I just can't cope with them now—Tell press I will cooperate fully with them once I am there—but I need this time for myself. Just say that very nicely to each person—as I am no doing ANYTHING till after Jan 20.

[And in response to a query about possible clashes between her inaugural gown and Lady Bird Johnson:]

• “My Inaug gown will be White—so I'm sure that anything Mrs. Johnson (wears?) will go with it. Thanks Gladys. Don't get too tired. Jackie”  

Certainly Mrs. Kennedy wasn't feeling up to the images that were portrayed of her leaving the hospital--she was clearly not well. 

 

A Classic in Climatology and the History of Climate Change (1920)

Milutin Milankovitch. Théorie mathématique des phénomènes thermiques produits par la radiation solaire. (Mathematical theory of thermic phenomena caused by solar radiations.) SOLD

Paris, Gauthier-Villaras, 1920. 9.5x 6.5”; xii, 338, (1)pp.

Classic Gauthier -Villars publication, which is too big and heavy for the perfect binding—this volume has a slight crack in the spine middle from having been read (or opened many times). There is also a thin piece of rear cover missing at edge (about 1/4”x 2”). That said, still a near-Fine copy.

Housed in a custom pamphlet case (of similar materials as the custom box housing the 1941 document, made by the same bookbinder), which is in as-new condition.

“Milankovitch revolutionized the understanding of climate dynamics. He put the astronomical theory of climate on a firm mathematical basis and founded cosmic climatology by calculating the temperature conditions on planets of the inner solar system, and the depth of the atmosphere of the outer planets. In particular he calculated the impact of Earth’s secular orbital cycles on climate changes and explained the origin of the Pleistocene ice ages. The perennial periodic orbital variations (eccentricity, obliquity, precession) considered in his canon of insolation, along with their influence on planets’ climates, today are called Milankovitch cycles.”

“(In this work) he resolved the problem of thermodynamics of inner planets of the solar system and attained the first reliable predictions about the present climates of Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the Moon, generally still valid, with the exception of Venus. After 1920, when cooperation with Wladimir Köppen and Alfred Wegener began, Milankovitch turned his attention exclusively to Earth’s climate, specifically the problem of ice ages. His primary focus was the insolation of Earth in the last six hundred thousand years at middle latitudes. The best-known result of the work was the “Curve of Insolation,” first published in 1924, in Köppen and Wegener’s book Die Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit. Being coincident with contemporary dating of four Alpine glacial periods, determined fifteen years earlier by Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner, the curve soon became widely accepted as a geological calendar for calibrating the paleoclimatological timescale.”--Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography online

"He formulated a precise, numerical climatological model with the capacity for reconstruction of the past and prediction of the future, and established the astronomical theory of climate as a generalized mathematical theory of insolation. When these most important problems of the theory were solved, and a firm foundation for further work built, Milanković finished a book which was published in 1920, by the Gauthier-Villars in Paris under the title "Théorie mathématique des phénomènes thermiques produits par la radiation solaire" (Mathematical Theory of Heat Phenomena Produced by Solar Radiation). Immediately after the publication of this book in 1920, meteorologists recognized it as a significant contribution to the study of contemporary climate."--Milankovitch wikipedia entry

“When Milankovitch received printed copies of his book from his Paris publisher, he sent one sample to Vladimir Köppen. Köppen (“...a principal founder of modern meteorology and climatology”-DSB) was so impressed by Milankoviitch's introduction of advanced mathematics into Earth sciences that he immediately wrote him a postcard, stating, “I am impressed by the abundance of reason and clarity in your interpretation, and I am truly grateful for this precious gift...” (Köppen's letter to Milankovitch) 1921; Milankovitch 1997, 474).

“The father of paleoclimates”--Berger, “Milankovitch, pere de la theorie astronomiques des paleoclimats”, Theorie et Mesure, 1988, p 385.

• There are two interesting review of this work in English published in 1923: Bulletin of the AMS by PJ Daniel, August 1923; and Nature 112, August 1923, pp 160-161.

 

RARE Work on the History of the 2nd Division, USAEF 1917-1918

(Colonel Oliver Lyman Spaulding and Colonel John Womack Wright.) History of the Second Division (Regular) AEF. 1936. 2 volumes, 35cm. 282 leaves+157 leaves (printed on one side only). Offset printed/mimeo printed (?), two-hole punched with metal clasps. Simple plain manila wrappers which are detached and very chipped.  $750

This is the original version of this publication, with no mention of authors or printer. I've determined the book was based on the two authors listed above under the title “The Second Division, American expeditionary force in France, 1917-1919”, published in New York, by the Historical Committee, Second Division Association, The Hillman press, inc., 1937. There is a version of this online at Hathi Trust, and the two are the same.

The published version appeared so: 2 p. l., iv, 412 p. front., illus., 6 port. on 1 pl. 24 cm. There are no illustrations or maps in the preliminary version offered here, though there is a call for illustrations and maps “to follow”. This is copyrighted by Maj. General Preston Brown (1872-1948), CoS 2^nd Infantry (April-Swept 1918), CoS IV Corps, Commander 3^rd Division.

RARE. This preliminary version—printed a year before the published version appeared—is NOT LOCATED in WorldCat.