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The articles include:

• Watson, J. D. and F. H. C. Crick. “Molecular structure of nucleic acids”, Nature 171:737, April 25, 1953. Signed by both Watson and Crick at the end of their paper.
• Wilkins, M. H. F., A. R. Stokes and H. R. Wilson. “Molecular structure of deoxypentose nucleic acids”, Nature 171:738, April 25, 1953.
• Franklin, Rosalind E. and R. G. Gosling. “Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate”, Nature 171:740, April 25, 1953.
• Watson, J. D. and F. H. C. Crick. “Genetical implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid”, Nature 171:964, May 30, 1953. Signed by both Watson and Crick at the beginning of their paper.
• Franklin, Rosalind E. and R. G. Gosling. “Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium deoxyribonucleate”, Nature 172:156, July 25, 1953.
• Wilkins, M. H. F., W. E. Seeds, A. R. Stokes, H. R. Wilson. “Helical Structure of Crystalline Deoxypentose Nucleic Acid”, Nature 172:759, October 24, 1953.
• Gamow, G. “Possible relation between deoxyribonucleic acid and protein structures”, Nature 173:318, February 13, 1954. Gamow’s first paper on the DNA code.

Together, 5 issues of Nature. Illustrated. 25.5x17.7 cm (10x7"); original printed self-wrappers; set in custom folding cloth box.

The publication, in their original journal format in weekly issues of Nature, of seven important articles on the structure of the DNA molecule, including the two seminal articles by Watson and Crick, each of them signed by both authors. These articles were to profoundly alter the understanding of the genetic process, and also containing the first illustrations of the double helix structure of the molecule. The discovery of DNA was the signature development in the understanding of genetics, marking the transition between two ages of what might be called the "classical age" of biology and a second "age" of molecular biology. Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine in 1962 "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." Of the two articles by Watson and Crick, the Journal format of the first article pre-dates its offprint, though the priority of the second is uncertain. Provenance: Samuel Hessel.

The original self-wrappers are present. These copies do not appear to have ever been bound (i.e. no residue of a prior binding or any visible indication that there ever was one) all ads, numbered with Roman numerals, are present at the front and rear of each issue. The first four issues have had the staples removed from the spines, and neatly replaced with string stitches; the staples are present in the fifth issue.