Antwerp, 2 December 1931

Name: 'I have developed into a migratory bird'
Brand: Antwerp, 2 December 1931
Price: 3000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 3,750

Estimate

GBP 1,800 - GBP 2,500

Closed: 9 May 2018

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'I have developed into a migratory bird'

Antwerp, 2 December 1931

Price Realised GBP 3,750

Closed: 9 May 2018

Price Realised GBP 3,750

Closed: 9 May 2018

Details Lot Essay More from

Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Autograph letter signed ('Albert') to his sister, Maja Winteler-Einstein, on board ship [Antwerp: probably on MS Portland, c. 2 December 1931].

In German, 1½ pages, 188 x 140mm, on paper with printed heading of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie.

Maja Winteler-Einstein (1881-1951) – her husband Paul Winteler (1882-1952) – Besso family.

Unpublished.

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Lot Essay

Einstein sends late birthday greetings to Maja (her birthday fell on 18 November) from shipboard at Antwerp, where he is waiting to sail for California: 'We are sitting in Antwerp harbour and are setting off in a small ship (which we are already aboard) to California, as soon as the fog has disappeared'. Such migrations are becoming habitual: 'I have in my old age developed completely into a migratory bird, not only out of an innate impulse but also because of the unstable situation in the so-called fatherland'. The worst of it is that his assistant and friend Walther Mayer ('mein Mayerchen') is not accompanying them, though he will perhaps obtain a professorship in America.
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