D O C U M E N T 2 5 1 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 2 1 2 9 5
ums den übrigen physikalischen Gesetzmässigkeiten gegenüber keine selbständige
Stellung einnehmen. Die Ersetzung von „Bezugssystemen“ durch „Beobachter“
hat zu bedauerlichen Misverständnissen Anlass gegeben. Die Andeutung von dem
„Vielstern“ habe ich nicht
verstanden[5]
und würde jedenfalls auch nicht dazu kom-
men, zu einer derartigen mehr philosophische Frage öffentlich Stel[lung zu
nehmen.
Mit vorzüglicher
Hochachtung][6]
TLC. [24 156].
[1]Addressee’s name is from Helen Dukas’s transcription. Zschimmer (1873–1940), a glass metal-
lurgical engineer, was a board member of the Glasswerk Schott & Gen., Jena.
[2]Norbert Einstein (1892–1980) was a sociologist at the University of Frankfurt.
[3]The name “Invariantentheorie” (“invariant theory”) had originally been suggested by Felix
Klein in 1910 (see Vol. 2, the editorial note “Einstein on the Theory of Relativity,” p. 254).
[4]In his “Philosophical Letters to a Worker,” originally serialized in the Volkszeitung für Sachsen-
Weimar-Eisenach and collected into a booklet (Zschimmer 1920), Zschimmer remarked that Ein-
stein’s “relativization” (“Relativierung”) of space and time would stand in apparent conflict with a
postulate of absolute knowledge (pp. 133–134).
[5]See Zschimmer 1920, p. 134.
[6]The passage in square brackets is added from Helen Dukas’s transcription.
251. From Paul G. Tomlinson[1]
Princeton, New Jersey, Sept. 30, 1921
My dear Professor Einstein—
On July 6 I wrote you inquiring when we might expect to receive the manuscript
of your
lectures.[2]
I have had no reply to this letter. A number of people have been
inquiring when the book will be ready, and we are considerably alarmed at the long
delay in the receipt of your manuscript, which we were led to believe would be in
our hands within a month after the lectures were delivered. The importance of the
book will undoubtedly be seriously affected unless we are able to publish it within
a reasonable time and I strongly urge upon you the necessity of sending us the copy
at your earliest convenience. I should appreciate also the favor of a reply from you
stating when we may expect to receive it.
Yours sincerely,
Paul G. Tomlinson
Manager.
TLS. [67 885]. Written on letterhead “Princeton University Press Council,” and addressed “Professor
Albert Einstein, Haberland Str. 54., Berlin, Germany.”
[1]Tomlinson (1888–1977) was director of Princeton University Press.
[2]Einstein had delivered his lectures at Princeton University from 9 to 13 May, and had signed an
agreement with Princeton University Press for their publication on 9 May. Earlier in the month, he
expressed unhappiness with his slow progress (see 7 September 1921 in Calendar).