LONDON – Christie’s will present Einstein and Family: Letters and Portraits, an online auction open for bidding from May 2 to 9.

Albert Einstein’s younger sister, Maja Winteler-Einstein (1881-1951), was the main witness to Einstein’s childhood and youth. Einstein’s confidante in adulthood, she fled Europe in 1939 to join her brother in Princeton, New Jersey, and lived out her last years with him after a stroke prevented her return.

Drawn from Maja’s archive, and that of her husband, Paul Winteler, the letters, postcards and photographs in this sale, many unpublished, shed new light on the extraordinary life and complex character of the 20th-century’s most famous scientist.

The collection includes a remarkable group of documents from Einstein’s early years, including an unseen photograph of the future scientist as a 5-year-old (above) and the only surviving letter from Einstein to his father (estimate: £2,500-£3,500). Further insights into Einstein’s life reveal the difficult relations with his first wife, his delight in the natural wonders of America and delves into his hobbies of sailing, playing the violin and reading his favorite books. The sale will also present a letter written to Maja by Einstein and his second wife, Elsa, immediately after they learned of the Nazi confiscation of their property in Germany (estimate: £1,200-£1,800).

Further documents within the sale showcase Einstein’s confidence in the value of science in an uncertain time of Nazi oppression, including a letter stating “The only unshakeable things are the stars and mathematics” (estimate: £4,000-£6,000).