A UNIQUE selection of Albert Einstein's "scientific and non-scientific personal papers" has been on display at the Hebrew University's National Library in Israel before being auctioned at Christie's in New York last week.

The auction is an attempt to settle a family dispute about Einstein's papers.

The personal papers, some of which portray the Nobel Prize winner in an unsympathetic light in relation to his first wife, represent half of Einstein's correspondence: his answers to the letters he received.

The permanent collection in the National Library contains the other half: the letters he received.

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The Hebrew University was chosen as the site of the exhibition because it houses the largest collection of Einstein manuscripts and photographs.

Einstein had an ongoing relationship with the Hebrew University throughout his life and bequeathed the copyright of his papers to the university.

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The idea behind the exhibition was to "stimulate interest among Israelis to purchase some of the material, or to attract foreign investors to purchase it on behalf of an Israeli institution", according to exhibition curator, Ze'ev Rosencrantz. This was was the case with the Safra Foundation, which purchased some of Einstein's scientific manuscripts for the Israel Museum in 1996.

The personal papers include more than 430 letters from the literary estate of Einstein's first wife, Mileva Einstein-Maric.

Robert Schulmann, senior editor of the Einstein Papers Project, said the papers provide the "most immediate access to the life of Albert Einstein" (1879-1955), "Because most of the correspondence speaks in the voice of Einstein, we are able to gain unique and invaluable glimpses into his ideas, and his views on family and the world," Mr Schulmann said.

The letters reflect his courtship, growing (and later soured) relationship and intellectual partnership with Mileva, his relationship with his two sons, the development of his scientific theories, and his time spent in Berlin, Zurich and New Jersey, where he became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.

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Other highlights include the 1913 Einstein-Beso manuscript, which was "the most important manuscript to be auctioned . . . It shows the thought processes leading up to the General Theory of Relativity", according to Mary Gilben, Christie's Israel director.

"Einstein was one of the founding fathers of the Hebrew University . . . After World War One, what interested him was the project of establishing a Jewish university, the Hebrew University," Mr Rosencrantz said.

In 1921, Einstein went to the United States with Haim Weizmann for fund-raising purposes. His ties with the Hebrew University continued, and when he visited Palestine in 1923, he gave a scientific lecture at the university's Mount Scopus campus.

Although Einstein was disillusioned at times with the running of the university and the debate over whether it should be run European or American-style, the latter, influenced by the dictates of American philanthropists, he saw the university as a "project close to him, and referred to it as 'our university'," Mr Rosencrantz said.

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The sale in the United States auction house realised only $879,000, well short of the expected $2 million.