[1st ed] Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking (Inscribed Association Copy)

First edition, stated first printing of R. Buckminster Fuller’s landmark synthesis of geometry, systems theory, design, architecture, and cosmological speculation, written in collaboration with E.J. Applewhite and published in 1975 by MacMillan. Thick 8vo (6.5” x 9.5”), cloth boards with printed unclipped wrappers, 876 pages, b/w illustrations including diagrams and charts. Inscribed by Fuller on the front free endpaper: “To David [Rosensaft] in friendship / Buckminster Fuller / March 6 1975.” A significant association copy, inscribed during the period of Fuller’s active Philadelphia residency and institutional affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania. Recipient David N. Rosensaft was then matriculating at Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (1974–1978), studying systems engineering, computer science, and bioengineering, and later became a prominent technology entrepreneur and designer of electronic trading systems and financial network architectures. Fuller had been appointed World Fellow in Residence in Philadelphia beginning in 1972, with Penn among the participating institutions, and was named Professor Emeritus there in the mid-1970s. The inscription almost certainly arose from direct contact within Fuller’s academic and intellectual orbit at the moment of publication. Binding somewhat shaken. Minor bumping and rubbing to extremities. Light rubbing and chipping to dj, with mild bumping and one closed tear to bottom of front cover. highly presentable signed first printing with unusually strong and contextually appropriate provenance linking Fuller’s systems philosophy to an emerging generation of high-technology and systems-engineering culture.…