Collection of 11 books by Oparin, together with the festschrift issued in honor of Oparin's 80th birthday. From the library of Melvin Calvin

Oparin, Alexander Ivanovich (1894-1980). Collection of 11 books by Oparin, together with the festschrift issued in honor of Oparin's 80th birthday, as listed below. From the library of Melvin Calvin (1911-97), 1961 Nobel Laureate in chemistry. Includes six books inscribed by Oparin to Calvin, and seven books with Calvin's ownership signature. V.p., 1953-75. Very good; see list for condition details.

First Editions or First Editions in English unless otherwise specified. Oparin was the first to propose the heterotrophic or "primordial soup" theory of the origin of life on Earth. In Proiskhozhedenie zhizni (1924), his first book on the subject, Oparin hypothesized that life arose from the organic compounds formed on the planet's surface during its early history. "Oparin's central thesis was that the first organisms to emerge in the anaerobic environment of the primitive Earth must have been heterotrophic bacteria. He proposed that life had been preceded by a lengthy period of abiotic syntheses and accumulation of organic compounds that had led to the accumulation he called the primordial soup" (Garrison-Morton.com 7384).

This collection of Oparin materials is from the library of Melvin Calvin, who received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1961 for discovering the process now known as the "Calvin cycle" of photosynthesis, by which plants convert carbon dioxide and other compounds into glucose. Calvin was also deeply interested in the chemical origins and evolution of life on Earth, publishing a book on the subject in 1969. In 1973 both men were honored by the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life for their pioneering studies on the subject.

1. The origin of life. Translated with annotations by Sergius Morgulis. xxv, [3], 270pp. New York: Dover, 1953. Original cloth. Second edition in English. Melvin Calvin's signature, dated 2 December 1953, on the front pastedown.

2. (With V. Fesenkov). The universe. 231, [3]pp. Text illustrations. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1957. Original soft covers, spine a bit worn and chipped. Author's signed presentation inscription in Russian to Melvin Calvin, dated 7 April 1959.

3. Another copy, with Melvin Calvin's signature, dated 6 April 1959, on the front cover. Spine extremities chipped, light sunning.

4. The origin of life on the Earth. Translated from the Russian by Ann Synge. xviii, [2], 495pp. Text illustrations. Edinburgh & London: Oliver and Boyd, 1957. Original cloth, dust-jacket. Third edition, revised and expanded, of Garrison-Morton.com 7384. Author's signed inscription in Russian, dated 4 November 1976, on the title. Melvin Calvin's signature, dated August 1957, on the front pastedown.

5. The origin of life on the Earth. Reports on the International Symposium, August 1957, Moscow. 390, [2]pp. 2 plates, 2 folding charts, text illustrations. Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, [1957]. Original cloth, inner front hinge cracked. Melvin Calvin's signature, dated 31 July 1957, on the front pastedown.

6. Proceedings of the first international symposium on the origin of life on the Earth held at Moscow 19-24 August 1957. English-French-German edition. xv, 691pp. 13 plates, folding charts, text illustrations. New York: Pergamon Press, 1959. Original cloth, dust-jacket. Melvin Calvin's signature, dated 3 June 1960, on the front pastedown.

7. Life: Its nature, origin and development. xi, 207pp. 8 plate leaves, text illustrations. Edinburgh & London: Oliver and Boyd, 1961. Original cloth, dust-jacket. Author's inscription to Melvin Calvin, dated 3 November 1976, on the title. Calvin's signature, dated 28 November 1961, on the front pastedown. Author's compliments slip laid in (tape stains on margins and on front free endpaper where slip was originally taped).

8. Problemy evolyutsionnoy i tekhnicheskoy biokhimii [Problems of evolutionary and technical biochemistry]. In Cyrillic. 364pp. Frontispiece, text illustrations. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo "Nauka," 1964. Original cloth. Author's signed presentation inscription in Russian to Melvin Calvin, dated 3 March 1964.

9. The chemical origin of life. Translated from the Russian by Ann Synge. xxvii, 124pp. Text illustrations. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas, 1964. Original cloth, dust-jacket. Author's signed presentation inscription in Russian to Melvin Calvin, dated 4 November 1976.

10. Genesis and evolutionary development of life. Translated from the Russian by Eleanor Maass. vii, [3], 203pp. Text illustrations. New York & London: Academic Press, 1968. Original cloth, dust-jacket. Author's signed inscription in Russian to Melvin Calvin, dated 13 May 1969, on the front free endpaper.

11. (With Duane L. Rohlfing) Molecular evolution prebiological and biological. A volume commemorating the sixtieth birthday of Sidney W. Fox. xix, 481pp. New York & London: Plenum Press, 1972. Edited by Oparin and Rohlfing. Melvin Calvin's signature, dated 4 January 1973, on the front pastedown.

12. Proiskhozhdeniye zhizni i evolyutsionnaya biokhimiya. Sbornik nosvyashcheye 80-letiyu akademika A. I. Oparina i 50-letiyu vykhoda v svet yego knigi "Proiskhozhdeniye zhizni." [Origin of life and evolutionary biochemistry. Collection for the 80th birthday of A. I. Oparin and the 50th anniversary of the publication of his book "The Origin of Life"]. In Cyrillic. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo "Nauka," 1975. Original cloth, dust-jacket (a bit worn).