George Orwell Typed Letter Signed.
$25,000 · Offered by Biblio
First edition · Signed
January 9, 1946. Rare typed letter signed by the acclaimed author of Nineteen-Eighty Four, George Orwell; part of a long correspondence with scientist Edward R. Ward regarding his views on science. One page, typescript, the letter reads: '9th January 1946 Dear Mr. Ward, Your letter has been passed on to be by "Tribune". I am sorry that in their correspondence columns I should have answered what was really an abridgement of your original letter; but I had not seen the latter, and I did not know that what was printed was a shortened version. I cannot enter into what might become a prolonged controversy, but I must stick to two of my original points: (a) that many scientists, including some of those you name, appear to adopt an extremely unscientific attitude towards problems in which their emotions and loyalties are involved; and (b) that members of the general public, such as myself, have a right to form and express their own opinions on the relationship between science and society. I do not know in what way your original letter was mutilated, but you did state quite clearly that I, as a journalist, had no right to express an opinion on matters that were the sole concern of scientists. It was this remark in your letter that led me to reply. The theologians make exactly similar claims - for example, that a member of the lay public has no right to air his opinions on such questions as the existence of God - and the one claim seems to me to be about as well founded as the other.
- Year: 1946
- Edition: First Edition
- Binding: unknown
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