MOCH, Jules; Albert EINSTEIN ( preface ); Edward HYAMS ( translator ). Human Folly: To Disarm or Perish?

MOCH, Jules; Albert EINSTEIN ( preface ); Edward HYAMS ( translator ). Human Folly: To Disarm or Perish?Nuclear Disarmament, from the Library of Nobel Prize Winning Physicist MOCH, Jules; Albert EINSTEIN (preface); Edward HYAMS (translator). Human Folly: To Disarm or Perish? London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1955. [offered with:] BLACKETT, Patrick Maynard Stuart. The Atom and the Charter. [London and Hereford: the Hereford Times for] Fabian Publications ltd, in conjunction with Victor Gollancz Ltd. September 1946. [offered with:] BLACKETT, Patrick Maynard

Nuclear Disarmament, from the Library of Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist

MOCH, Jules; Albert EINSTEIN (preface); Edward HYAMS (translator). Human Folly: To Disarm or Perish? London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1955. [offered with:] BLACKETT, Patrick Maynard Stuart. The Atom and the Charter. [London and Hereford: the Hereford Times for] ‘Fabian Publications ltd, in conjunction with Victor Gollancz Ltd’. September 1946.

[offered with:]

BLACKETT, Patrick Maynard Stuart. The Atom and the Charter. [London and Hereford: the Hereford Times for] ‘Fabian Publications Ltd, in conjunction with Victor Gollancz Ltd’. September 1946.

8vo. Publisher’s blue cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, in yellow dust-jacket printed in red and black; pp. 22, [2 (blank)]; maps and tables in the text, spine of jacket sunned, a little spotting to back cover, small closed tear to back flap hinge (c. 10 mm), lettering to spine rubbed, small chip to upper joint; very good; contemporary Foyles label to pastedown ‘P. M. S. Blackett’ (see below), with Blackett’s ownership inscription in blue ink to front free endpaper.

First English edition, with a preface by Einstein, of this work arguing for nuclear disarmament, translated by the gardener, novelist, and anarchist Edward Byams, this copy from the library of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Patrick Blackett, whose own work is discussed at length in the book.

Jules Moch (1893–1985) worked as a French Resistance organiser during the war, later became a senior minister in several post-war governments, and was France’s delegate to the UN Disarmament Committee for 1951–1960. It was this latter role that informed the principles he sets forth in Human Folly which argue for multilateral nuclear disarmament.

Divided into two parts, the first examines the destructive capacities of modern warfare before tracing the recent history of disarmament negotiations. Moch attempts to represent both Soviet and Western positions with fairness, concluding that the divisions between the two are gradually narrowing. Though he does not regard the situation as entirely hopeless, he presents it as one of pressing urgency. The preface by Albert Einstein, one of Moch’s most eminent supporters, makes clear peace can only arise from political will: ‘Those who do not believe in the possibility of the attainment of a lasting and assured peace, or have not the courage to act accordingly, are ripe for destruction’ (p. 8).

Provenance: front free endpaper with the ownership inscription of Patrick Blackett (1897–1974) with his occasional underlining throughout and one word (‘Target?’) in pencil to the top of p. 10. Blackett was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work in nuclear physics and cosmic radiation, including experiments demonstrating nuclear transmutation and important early research into the positron. During the Second World War, he headed Operational Research at the Admiralty, where his statistical criticism of the RAF blanket bombing campaigns led to increasing ostracism from the military authority. His opposition to mass destruction later informed his belief that Britain should not develop nuclear weapons. Combined with his openly socialist views, this attracted the attention of MI5 and led to his inclusion on George Orwell’s list of alleged ‘crypto-communists’, contributing to his marginalisation by the post-war Labour government.

Blackett’s book The Military and Economic Consequences of Atomic Energy (1948) is discussed at length by Moch (pp. 117–19). Written before the development of second-generation thermonuclear weapons, Blackett had estimated that thousands of atomic bombs would be required to destroy the United States or the Soviet Union when at the time, only a few dozen existed. As Moch observes on p. 121, however, ‘today a few dozen thermonuclear bombs would produce the same results’. It is particularly notable that Blackett has not annotated the passages explicitly discussing his work.

This copy of Human Folly is offered with Blackett’s pamphlet The Atom and the Charter, which discusses the extent to which ‘the advent of atomic bombs necessitates changes in the procedure for the application of sanctions under the Charter of the United Nations Organisation’, issued by Victor Gollancz and the socialist Fabian Society on behalf of the Association of Scientific Workers, a scientific trade union of which Blackett was president.

SKU: 2124278