“Autograph seekers are cannibals”: Einstein’s complicated relationship with his own signature

Albert Einstein wasn’t just a pioneer in science—he was a pioneer in celebrity culture. The first true celebrity scientist, he had a conflicted relationship with fame: he loved what it could do, but he didn’t love the burdens of public life. That relationship is clear in the one thing he owned completely: his signature.

Einstein Autographed Photo

What Einstein’s signature was like

Einstein's Autograph

An Einstein signature is worth serious money today, and that means every letter has come under scrutiny. Key elements include the small size of the writing and the complex E. Einstein’s signature style was so distinctive that it was infectious. In Einstein: A Biography, Jürgen Neffe notes that Elsa Einstein started signing her first and last name with the same complicated E.

More than the letters themselves, however, it was the use of Einstein’s signature that epitomized his fame.

Autograph seekers were the last remnant of cannibalism

Like any celebrity, Einstein was blessed and cursed by his fame. And it showed in his signature, especially when autograph hounds followed him everywhere he went.

In a letter, Oskar Morgenstern wrote that even fame-friendly Einstein could be haunted by the obligations of celebrity.

Morgenstern recalled being out with Einstein when an autograph-seeker showed up, writing:

“As we were walking out towards the elevators, a man came running after us with a piece of paper and a pen and approached Einstein and asked him for his autograph. Einstein obliged. When we went down in the elevator, I turned to Einstein and said, ‘It must be dreadful to be persecuted in this fashion by so many people.’ Einstein said to me, ‘You know, this is just the last remnant of cannibalism.’ I was puzzled and said, ‘How is that?’ He said: ‘Yes, formerly they wanted your blood, now they want your ink.’”

The blessings of the world’s most famous signature

But having the world’s most famous autograph wasn’t all bad. The best part of having a famous signature was that signing things meant something—like the letter he wrote to Roosevelt about the new nuclear threat. Later, Einstein leant his name and signature to many causes.

In Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson reveals how Einstein used his signature to raise money. Organizers with the United Jewish Appeal asked donors to issue their checks to Einstein himself. When he signed over the checks to the charity, the donor got back the cancelled check with Einstein’s autograph on it.

He even made straight cash from his autograph duties (though he probably could have spent his time more profitably). Elsa was in charge of fan mail, and she collected $1 for his autograph and $5 for his photograph. Despite the hard work, Einstein donated the cash to charity.

Today, that signature sells at auction houses to private bidders. Still, Einstein’s autograph doesn’t reveal much about who he was. To understand him through his signature, it might be better to look at a young love letter where he didn’t even sign his name. Instead, he signed it as Your Rascally Friend.

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