ALS in German, signed “Your Father” with “Einstein” in the address area of a postcard depicting wildflowers in the California desert, 5.5 x 3.5, January 27, 1931. Letter to Eduard, his son. In full (translated): “Thank you for the note. My brain is just being dry distilled by the California desert. It’s very pleasant. Mama is getting cacti, but I don’t have the written-down name with me here.” On the front, his wife has signed “Ilsa” and written short note in the top border (translated): “Heartfelt greetings from the California desert.” A spot of soiling to the left edge, light creasing to the lower right, and a very light pencil notation to the top, otherwise fine condition.
While still calling Germany his home, Einstein arrived at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 1931 for his first visiting professorship there. Jotting a quick postcard to his son, the scientist leaves out the truly remarkable parts of his week—meeting world-famous Charlie Chaplin at the Los Angeles premier of City Lights, visiting the Mt. Wilson Observatory with Edwin Hubble—and instead jokes about the heat: “My brain is just being dry distilled by the California desert. It is very pleasant.” (Dry distillation is the process of heating solid materials to produce gaseous products.) This lighthearted and charming letter to his son tells what the headlines left out: the general feeling of a new environment, talk of the weather with a clearly Einsteinian twist. The only Einstein letter mentioning his brain that we have ever encountered. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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