Lectures on Gravitation.

Early Xerox'd copy of this important lecture series, originally published as a mimeograph by the Caltech bookstore in 1963. From the library of physicist Charles Needham (1936-2013), who earned his PhD at the University of New Mexico at Alburquerque in 1971 with a thesis on Cephid variable stars. Needham likely made this copy from an original mimeograph that he borrowed from the library or from a colleague. He may have forgotten to copy the title, as he has inserted his own typed title page before the Xerox'd text.

Feynman's course on gravitation was presented to graduate students and postdocs in the afternoons at the same time that he was giving the morning undergraduate lectures that would become the famous Feynman Lectures on Physics. Two postdocs, Fernando B. Morinigo and William G. Wagner, made typed notes based on the taped lectures, and these were mimeographed and sold in the bookstore 'for many years' (Preskill & Thorne', foreword to The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation, 1995).

Feynman gave twenty-seven lectures in all, but he only found time to check the first eleven, 'making various corrections and additions'. They are 'pervaded by Feynman's spirit and sprinkled with his jokes, but inevitably his idiosyncratic use of language has been only partially preserved' (Preskill & Thorne). The earliest copies sold at Caltech therefore only included eleven lectures, as here, though in 1971 a further five were added.

'Because of their unique insights into the foundations of physics', these lectures 'had a significant influence on many of the people who read them' and, in their introduction to the 1995 edition, Preskill and Thorne cite three reasons for their importance: 'First, nowhere else is there a comparable pedagogical account of an unusual approach to the foundations of general relativity that was pioneered by Feynman (among others)... Second, the notes contain a number of fascinating digressions and asides on the foundation of physics and other issues that make them enlightening and interesting to read. Third, the notes have historical value. At the time he taught the course, Feynman had been thinking hard for several years about fundamental problems in gravitation, and it is useful to have a record of his insights and viewpoint at that particular time... In some cases, his views were rapidly evolving as he taught the course'.

154-leaf Xeroxed mimeograph, rectos only, typescript title page, contents fresh; contemporary red library cloth, title to spine gilt, binder's ticket of New Mexico Bookbinders, Albuquerque, spine very slightly faded but overall cloth fresh, excellent condition.