"The Gutenberg Bible of the Atomic Age"

Smyth, Henry Dewolf

[ATOMIC BOMB: THE INFAMOUS SMYTH REPORT]. A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes

Washington DC: War Department, 1945. First Edition. 4to (7.5" x 10"). Unpaginated [98 ff.], lithoprinted. Lacking paper wrappers, textblock backed with white and marbled spine (first and last leaves a trifle worn, usual blemishes). Ex-library U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory with standard markings (see below); on the title-page is the word "copy" (reproduced from another copy?) possibly cancelled. With faults, correctly priced. Preserved in a cloth protective case. Good. Item #3969

THE MOST HORRIFIC WEAPON DEVISED BY MANKIND: THE FIRST PUBLISHED ACCOUNT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATOMIC BOMB. THIS HARROWING U.S. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT MUST BE SEEN TO BE FULLY APPRECIATED.

Issued by the GPO on Aug. 12th, 1945 -- just six days after Hiroshima and three days after Nagasaki -- the "Smyth Report" (as it is familiarly known) describes, with alarming candidness, the development of the Manhattan Project and their discoveries. Then, as now, readers have found the text frightening. The thirteen chapters herein include the administrative history of the project, the metallurgical project at Chicago (1942), plutonium production, separation of isotopes, diffusion and electromagnetic separation, and physical construction of the bomb. Additionally there is a Foreward by Maj. Gen. Groves, who gravely warns all who dare: “Persons disclosing or securing additional information by any means whatsoever without authorization are subject to severe penalties under the Espionage Act.”

This is a pre-publication lithoprint issue, one of approximately 1000 copies which were hastily printed and assembled in heavily secured facilities at the Adjutant General’s Office in the Pentagon, rendering many copies incomplete or wrongly bound. These copies were stored in a safe at the Pentagon until after the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, when President Truman made the decision to release the Report to the public. Copies of the lithoprint issue were sent to members of Congress, Manhattan Project leaders and scientists, military personnel, and the press.

Our copy is distinguished by its provenance: it is one of at least three sent to the now-defunct U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory (ours was copy 3 and features associated ex-library markings throughout). It contains the important page VI-12 that was redacted from press copies and replaced with a blank page or even no page. This text gives plutonium production details intended only for the military, their contractors, engineers, and scientists. In the present copy fols. IX-7, IX-8, and "IX-8 cont'd" were TYPED and bound in (they are now separated from the textblock). Coleman, in his 1976 "Descriptive Checklist" of the Smyth Report variants, does not mention such a copy. Perhaps this ex-Naval Ordnance copy arrived incomplete, necessitating the three typewritten pages for military personnel,

This lithoprint issue was preceded by the mimeograph version (50 copies, of which only Smyth's copy survives) and a "ditto" version (respectively Coleman 1 and 2). Questions about Coleman's conclusions have been raised by Anne Bahde who examined 22 copies in the Oregon State University Library, including two very early versions in the Linus Pauling Papers (see her "Serifs and Secrecy: The Smyth Report in SCARC," online). We feel that Bahde is correct in pronouncing the Smyth Report as the "Gutenberg Bible of the Atomic Age."

PMM 422e. Norman 1962. Landmarks of Science, p. 12. Coleman, "'Smyth Report': A Descriptive Checklist" (in: Princeton University Library Chronicle, Spring 1976, vol. XXXVII, no. 3, pp. 206-207, no. 3).

Price: $2,500.00