The Illustrated A Brief History of Time. Updated and expanded edition.

Illustrated reissue signed by Hawking with his thumbprint on the title page, and witnessed by his PA Judith Croasdell, her inscription dated August 22, 2013. In 1974 physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) made the revolutionary discovery that black holes, rather than being totally inescapable, actually release a type of energy now known as Hawking radiation. That same year he was elected one of the youngest-ever members of the Royal Society, and in 1979 he followed in the footsteps of Isaac Newton when he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. Hawking began to consider writing for a general audience in the early 1980s and approached an editor at the Cambridge University Press, who suggested that he avoid equations. Famously, A Brief History of Time contains only one: e = mc2, instead relying on narrative and illustrations to explain concepts such as the Big Bang, the expansion and fate of the universe, black holes, the directionality of time, and the search for a unifying theory of physics. Despite its complex subject matter, the book was an immediate success, and the Guardian has described it as 'a succinct, entertaining and brilliantly lucid account of our relationship with the universe' (McCrum, 'The 100 Best Non-Fiction Books No. 6', March 2016). 4th printing of the illustrated edition; 4to; coloured illustrations throughout the text, a couple of small marks to the title and half title, some minute sticky spots at the extreme top edge of the text block causing pages to occasionally adhere; original black boards, titles to spine gilt, an excellent copy in the very lightly rubbed jacket; 248 pp.…