Reconstruction of the human society
by Young Seek Choue
[1975?] signed first edition, presentation copy, association copy (1977 Nobel winner Roger Guillemin), Kyung Hee University (Seoul, South Korea), 6 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches tall grey cloth hardcover in publisher's unclipped dust jacket, gilt design and lettering to front cover and spine, purple endpapers, green silk bookmark sewn in, title page printed in purple, 277 pp. Laid in is a card reading, 'From the Private Collection of Dr. Roger and Lucienne Guillemin, Nobel Laureate, 1977, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA.' Roger Charles Louis Guillemin was a French-American neuroscientist who received the National Medal of Science in 1976, and the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1977 for his work on neurohormones which helped lead to the birth control pill and cancer treatments. The front dust jacket cover lists the year as 1979, which is believed to be a typo, as all other indications, including OCLC, are 1975. Slight soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers, with a slight bit of bowing to the front board. Tipped onto the front free-endpaper, a presentation slip to Guillemin is signed by Young Seek Choue (1921-2016). Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a slightly rubbed, stained and edgeworn dust jacket which is nicely preserved and displayed in a clear archival Brodart sleeve.
In the summer of 1975, the author presented an abridged version of this work as the keynote address at the World Congress of Humanities held in Atlanta. The seven-point declaration at the conclusion of his address was unanimously adopted by the Congress as a New Declaration of the Human Society and sent to the United Nations, other international organizations and to governments throughout the world. His criticism of modern civilization is based upon his unique philosophical theory of generative principle of subjective will and his suggested solution for contemporary aporias centers on human-centrism.
About the prior owner: From the library of Roger Guillemin (1924-2024), a French-American neuroscientist, who joined the Salk Institute in 1970 at the invitation of Jonas Salk. In separate research laboratories, Guillemin and neuroscientist Andrew Schally (1926-2024) discovered the structures of Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). They were jointly awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery. In addition, Guillemin received awards from the National Academy of Sciences, 1974; the Canada Gairdner International Award, 1974; the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, 1975; the Dickson Prize in Medicine, 1976; the Passano Award in Medical Sciences, 1976; the National Medal of Science, 1976; and from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1977.