The rare first account of the manhattan project, with secret page. The rare lithoprint edition, the first obtainable edition of the official account of the development of the atomic bomb, with the full text on page VI-12, usually left blank to keep information on plutonium production rates secret. Because of the speed and security precautions under with which the report was printed and bound, to be made public only six days after the bombing of Hiroshima, leaves are often missing or duplicated. In this case there is no text on page IX-10, and two leaves, VII-9/10 and VII-11/12, are duplicated.

This copy bears the ownership signature of Wayne W. Johnson, a personnel director of the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. The Metallurgical Laboratory was established in 1939 by Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, two of the prime movers of the Manhattan Project, in order to study the chemistry of plutonium, its chain reaction, and how it could be isolated in quantities large enough to produce a weapon.

'The Smyth Report', as this volume is more commonly known, was the official, unclassified narrative of the weapon's development, a 'remarkably full and candid account' intended for general release once the weapon's existence was made public (Printing and the Mind of Man 422). The first edition was a mimeographed version stamped secret, of which all copies save Smyth's were destroyed. The next was this lithoprint, published in an edition of only 1,000 copies that were distributed to Manhattan Project leaders and members of the press, followed by a Government Printing Office edition. The first trade edition was published in September 1945 by Princeton University. It remained on the New York Times best-seller list until January of the following year and would go through eight printings by 1973.

First lithoprint edition; perfect bound; 2 full-page graphs, equations within the text, leaves VII-9/10 and VII-11/12 duplicated, a little creasing to the corners of the text block; wire-stitched in the original stiff, cream-coloured textured wrappers, 'released for publication on' printed on the upper wrapper, and housed in a custom brown morocco-backed folding case, ownership signature to upper wrapper, a few small spots and marks, light rubbing, and a little creasing of the wrappers, excellent condition; 99 leaves.

Coleman, The 'Smyth Report': A Descriptive Check List; Printing and the Mind of Man 422; Hook & Norman, The Norman Library of Science and Medicine 1962.