Lot #170

Charles Babbage Autograph Letter Signed on His "Calculating engine"

Description

Rare 1834 Babbage letter acquiescing to a showing of "the Calculating engine," a reference to his Difference engine, an early precursor to modern computers

ALS signed “C. Babbage,” one page, 5 x 8, May 30, 1834. Handwritten letter to Dunbar James Douglas, 6th Earl of Selkirk (1809-1885), inviting him to a lecture, in full: “Having learned from the Duke of Somerset that you have a great desire to see the Calculating engine I am happy to offer you an opportunity which will I hope be interesting. Lord and Lady Lansdowne and a very small party are coming to my house tomorrow evening at half past nine and Dr. [Dionysius] Lardner has sent his drawings and will give us a popular explanation of it. If Lady Selkirk and your sister will do me the honor of accompanying you I shall have much pleasure in seeing them at my house.” In fine condition.

This rare handwritten letter finds the father of computing making a last-ditch attempt to drum up aristocratic support, presumably for the doomed Difference Engine No. 1, with the project months away from its final collapse. The manufacturing engineer Joseph Clement had ceased work on the project in March 1833 following a financial dispute. He had, however, succeeded by 1832 in producing a fully functioning demonstration piece representing about one-seventh of the whole machine, which as the first known automatic calculator ‘ranks among the most celebrated icons in the prehistory of computing' (ODNB). Babbage himself published little on the design of either his difference or analytical engines, but he received prominent support from the Irish scientific writer Dionysius Lardner who, in 1834, delivered a series of lectures on the difference engine and contributed a lengthy article on the subject, titled 'Babbage’s Calculating Engine,’ to the Edinburgh Review.

Auction Info

• Auction Title: Fine Autograph and Artifacts
• Dates: #689 - Ended April 17, 2024

This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for $50.00

*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.