first edition Wrappers
1945 · Washington DC
by Smyth, Henry
Washington DC: War Department, 1945. First Edition. Wrappers. Near fine. Stapled into the original printed wrappers as issued. Typed label, "Copy No. 5 Division V Lieut. R. S. Dunham." A pre-publication lithoprint (not to be confused with the later reprint or the later clothbound or paperbound Princeton edition), issued shortly (days) after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and not only an early copy (number 5 of about 1,000 printed), but a complete one— page VI-12 is found blank in most other copies (redacted), as it outlines plutonium production rates. And there's more. The original press release, a letter of commendation from the Army Corps of Engineers and an original shoulder patch awarded to about 3500 Army officers and enlisted men who were assigned to the Manhattan Engineer District of the Manhattan Project (Ref. Los Alamos Natl. Lab and Bradbury Museum). Copies of correct issue Smyth Report are scarce (regardless of how many copies are currently for sale), but scarcer still with a known and traceable provenance. Scarcer than the several copies Smyth found in the late 1970s and signed for gifts to Princeton. Lieutenant Robert S. Dunham (1907-1991) was a patent lawyer for the Manhattan Project, a copy of his obituary from the NY Times, laid in. The additional ephemera is rare when directly connected to a copy. Ex-Lieut. R. S. Dunham. PMM 422e.
(Inventory #: 1027)