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Lot 23
GÖDEL, KURT. 1906-1978. Group of 5 offprints, each signed and inscribed:
5 November 2020, 10:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$125,075 inc. premium
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GÖDEL, KURT. 1906-1978.
Group of 5 offprints, each signed and inscribed:
1. Russell's Mathematical Logic. Offprint from: Volume V of The Library of Living Philosophers, The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell, [1944]. 8vo. Original printed wrappers. Pp. 125-153. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel in German. Ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern.
2. What is Cantor's Continuum Problem? Offprint from: American Mathematical Monthly Vol LIV, No.9, November 1947. 8vo. Original blue printed wrappers. Pp.515-525. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel on the front wrapper. With ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern and several of his notes within.
3. A Remark About the Relationship Between Relativity Theory and Idealistic Philosophy. Offprint from: Volume VII of The Library of Living Philosophers, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, 1949. 8vo. Self wrappers. Pp 557-562. SIGNED & INSCRIBED in German by Gödel on the first page. Indentification of the author in the hand of Morgenstern.
4. Rotating Universes in General Relativity Theory. Offprint from: Vol.I of Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, 1950. 8vo. Original buff printed wrappers. Pp 175-181. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel on the front wrapper. Ownership signature on the front wrapper and brief marginalia within from Oskar Morgenstern.
5. Dialectica. Offprint from: Volume 12, No.3-4 of International Review of Philosophy of Knowledge, 1958. 8vo. Original tan printed wrappers. Pp. [280]-287. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel on the front wrapper. Ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern.
*AND WITH: An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations of Gravitation. From: Vol. 21, No. 3 of Reviews of Modern Physics, July, 1949. 4to. Self-wrappers. Ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern.
Provenance: Oskar Morgenstern, by descent.
GÖDEL PRESENTS HIS OFFPRINTS TO OSKAR MORGENSTERN.
Economist Oskar Morgenstern, who is best known for his work with John von Neumann founding the mathematical field of game theory with their book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, was, along with Albert Einstein, among Gödel's closest friends at the Institute for Advance Studies, Princeton. Morgenstern held Gödel in high esteem. He wrote in a 1974 journal entry: "Gödel alone remains - perhaps the most wondrous man one can imagine. Hardly anyone knows him. If I were nearer his level (and what a distance that would be to cover!) I would write his life. Perhaps even so I should record some of his thoughts and doings, since the world will know little what kind of man he is. A man of whom von Neumann & Weyl have said to me more than once: the greatest logician since Leibniz or Aristotle."
Signed and inscribed presentation copies of Gödel's offprints are extremely rare on the market, much less to fellow Institute of Advanced Study colleagues.
1. Russell's Mathematical Logic. Offprint from: Volume V of The Library of Living Philosophers, The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell, [1944]. 8vo. Original printed wrappers. Pp. 125-153. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel in German. Ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern.
2. What is Cantor's Continuum Problem? Offprint from: American Mathematical Monthly Vol LIV, No.9, November 1947. 8vo. Original blue printed wrappers. Pp.515-525. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel on the front wrapper. With ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern and several of his notes within.
3. A Remark About the Relationship Between Relativity Theory and Idealistic Philosophy. Offprint from: Volume VII of The Library of Living Philosophers, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, 1949. 8vo. Self wrappers. Pp 557-562. SIGNED & INSCRIBED in German by Gödel on the first page. Indentification of the author in the hand of Morgenstern.
4. Rotating Universes in General Relativity Theory. Offprint from: Vol.I of Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, 1950. 8vo. Original buff printed wrappers. Pp 175-181. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel on the front wrapper. Ownership signature on the front wrapper and brief marginalia within from Oskar Morgenstern.
5. Dialectica. Offprint from: Volume 12, No.3-4 of International Review of Philosophy of Knowledge, 1958. 8vo. Original tan printed wrappers. Pp. [280]-287. SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Gödel on the front wrapper. Ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern.
*AND WITH: An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations of Gravitation. From: Vol. 21, No. 3 of Reviews of Modern Physics, July, 1949. 4to. Self-wrappers. Ownership signature of Oskar Morgenstern.
Provenance: Oskar Morgenstern, by descent.
GÖDEL PRESENTS HIS OFFPRINTS TO OSKAR MORGENSTERN.
Economist Oskar Morgenstern, who is best known for his work with John von Neumann founding the mathematical field of game theory with their book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, was, along with Albert Einstein, among Gödel's closest friends at the Institute for Advance Studies, Princeton. Morgenstern held Gödel in high esteem. He wrote in a 1974 journal entry: "Gödel alone remains - perhaps the most wondrous man one can imagine. Hardly anyone knows him. If I were nearer his level (and what a distance that would be to cover!) I would write his life. Perhaps even so I should record some of his thoughts and doings, since the world will know little what kind of man he is. A man of whom von Neumann & Weyl have said to me more than once: the greatest logician since Leibniz or Aristotle."
Signed and inscribed presentation copies of Gödel's offprints are extremely rare on the market, much less to fellow Institute of Advanced Study colleagues.
Footnotes
"My true fortune - other than my wonderful wife and children - was & still is - living with genius" (Oskar Morgenstern in a 1974 journal entry).

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