Christie's Books & Manuscripts Department is pleased to present a fine selection of material highlighting both important science and Americana. The sale leads with a superb selection of scientific books including a first edition of Kepler’s Astronomia Nova; a second edition of Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus and an extensive selection on astronomy, mathematics, anatomy, natural history, etc., all sold on behalf of the William P. Watson Trust. There is further a cache of correspondence from Nobel Prize winners Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins to their mutual friend and scientific collaborator, Leonard Hamilton. Dating from the 1940s-1960s, the letters provide fascinating new insight on the story of the discovery of DNA's double helix structure. The sale also includes selections from the Collection of the late Kalman Talansky featuring letters from Albert Einstein as well as significant pieces of Americana including a rare, first printing of the final Emancipation Proclamation. Other Americana highlights include one of five known first separate printings of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, a thick-paper copy of The Federalist from the Collection of William S. Reese, as well as letters and documents from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, John Quincy Adams, and Lyndon Johnson.

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