'We wish to propose a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.' WATSON, JAMES D. (1928- ) & CRICK, FRANCIS H. C. (1916-2004). Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid'; 'Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids'; 'Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate'. Three papers in a single offprint from Nature, Vol. 171, No. 4356, April 25, 1953. London: Macmillan, 1953. 8vo (210 x 140 mm). 2 diagrams (including the double helix) and 2 illustrations from photographs. Stapled in self-wrappers as issued. THE RARE 3-PAPER OFFPRINT INDENTIFYING THE DOUBLE HELIX STRUCTURE OF DNA, SIGNED BY CRICK, WILKINS, WILSON, STOKES, and GOSLING. Cambridge graduate student Francis Crick and research fellow James Watson enjoy the distinction of publishing the first article identifying and describing DNA. While they spent time developing a physical model to create an accurate picture of the molecule, their competitors at King's College, London, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, were involved in equally important research looking at x-ray diffraction images of DNA. Wilkins showed Franklin's research to Watson and Crick-apparently without her knowledge-which led the Cambridge team to suggest that the DNA molecule was made up of two chains of nucleotides, each a helix, one going up and one going down. Their model at last provided an explanation of the way DNA separates and replicates during cell division. Two offprint issues of Watson & Crick's paper were produced: one simply reprinted their paper, and the present offprint contains the work of all three teams involved; the first being Crick & Watson's paper which identifies the double helix structure of DNA, the second by M. Wilkins, Stokes and H.R. Wilkins which explains how the structure divides before mitosis so that each strand can act as a cell, and the third, by Franklin & Gosling, contains the key data that Crick & Watson used to determine the structure used to formulate the model of DNA. For the offprint issue, the text of the papers was partially reset, printed as a single column on a small octavo page (as opposed to the double-column octavo pages of the journal issue), and repaginated [1]-[14]. The print run would have been small and, although it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of copies printed, this issue is considerably rarer than the journal issue. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing