Inscribed first edition, association copy, of the Nobel Laureate's rather pessimistic book about the future of man — signed to legendary composer, songwriter, singer, and humorist Tom Lehrer.
Good in very good minus condition.
Price: $400.00
"Why does man behave like perfect idiot? This is the problem I wish to deal with."
Across a scant 37 songs — the totality of his output — Tom Lehrer looked back to the humor of Tin Pan Alley while drawing on the sophistication of contemporary Broadway to craft a musical corpus filled with classic songs whose titles alone can still (to those in the know) draw stifled laughter: "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Elements," "(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica," "The Masochism Tango," "New Math," "The Vatican Rag," "Smut." Despite the fact that Lehrer largely retreated from the public eye at the height of his fame in the 1960s (to teach math and musical theater at UC Santa Cruz for more than 40 years), his work endured through the likes of The Dr. Demento Show (and other more informal nerd networks), as well as eventually the internet — where his mix of irony, dark humor, and daredevil composition seemed tailor-made for the social media age.
An interesting association, as both Szent-Györgyi with this book (in which he offers a bleak assessment of our "death-oriented" society) and Lehrer in many of his songs share a rather dark view of human nature. Indeed, much of Szent-Györgyi's pessimism stems from the threat of the atomic bomb, a topic Lehrer also addressed in songs like "Who's Next?", "So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III)," and "We Will All Go Together When We Go."
First printing. New York: Philosophical Library, (1970). 8'' x 5.5''. Original full orange cloth. In original unclipped ($3.95) color pictorial jacket. 96 pages. Inscribed by Szent-Györgyi on the front free endpaper: "To Tom Lehrer, / most cordially. / Albert Szent-Györgyi." Loosely laid in is Lehrer's NEW YORK TIMES clipped of Szent-Györgyi's obituary, with Lehrer's handwritten annotation "10/25/86." Cloth faded and mottled. Offsetting to endpapers from newspaper clipping (now archivally sleeved). Jacket a bit soiled and dampstained. Present better than described.
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