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The History of Computing Auctioned at Christie's

Posted by timothy on Tue Feb 01, 2005 07:34 PM
from the considerable-subset-anyhow dept.
Software Programming The Internet Technology Hardware IT
Larry Groebe writes "The most amazing unified collection of books, papers, and similar material on the history of computing is about to go on sale at Christie's auction house. Want a signed copy of 'Rossum's Universal Robots?' Original papers on the Eniac? Alan Turning's original proof of universal computability? Letters from Charles Babbage himself? It's in there, to anyone with (a whole lot of) money. Check out the estimated price on the 1974 journal article by Vinton Cerf describing IP addressing. It's increased in value in the past 30 years...just a bit."
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  • Hey baby (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:37PM (#11546519)
    Wanna see my authetic Vint Cerf letter from 1974?

  • The sale's not going well (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (209368) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:38PM (#11546532)
    Apparently the entire online catalog is Slashdotted.

  • Do they have... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:39PM (#11546533)
    The history of the history of recursion?

  • Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dabigpaybackski (772131) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:39PM (#11546534) Homepage
    I hope they put these items in a museum where everyone can see them. Considering the ever-growing importance of the computer in the last half-century, I think papers like these should be part of an exhibit making the rounds across the globe. Smithsonian, perhaps?
  • Coral here [nyud.net]

  • Computors (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rares Marian (83629) <hshdsgdsgfdsgfdr ... tdkiytdiytdc.org> on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:41PM (#11546549) Homepage
    Wow. They really did spell it that way. All the souls I've led astray. No amount of Windows usage can atone for the misgrammaticalous advice I've given.

    I will never RTFA again. Who knows what else I'll find out?

    • Re:Computors (Score:3, Informative)

      by ornil (33732)
      You should read old "Doc" Smith's SF novels. I almost died when I read a line like the following:

      A Nevian computer handed his chief a sheet of metal, bearing rows of symbols.

      or

      "Not exactly," the computer still stared. "I was going to set up an integral. I didn't want it, either-I could swear that somebody told me to set it up."

      Yep, those are people that do computations - computers.

  • I have... (Score:4, Funny)

    by TechyImmigrant (175943) * on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:41PM (#11546552) Journal
    I have Charles Babbage's ego in a box somewhere. Should be worth a bit.

  • Also featured on Page 3 of the catalog... (Score:5, Funny)

    by GillBates0 (664202) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:42PM (#11546561) Homepage Journal
    A never before published proof of P=NP from Alan Turing's diary.

    Just kidding folks...no need to get your panties all in a bunch.

  • Worth noting (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rackhamh (217889) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:44PM (#11546575)
    Isn't it interesting that in an era when digitization and electronic archival are increasingly important, memorabilia such as this is so highly valued?

    • Re:Worth noting (Score:5, Funny)

      by bwcarty (660606) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:46PM (#11546586)
      That's because it's all DRM free.

        • Re:Worth noting (Score:3, Interesting)

          by pxpt (40550)
          It seems that the more technologically advanced the civilisation - the harder it is to actually access knowledge in said civilisation. Books might be old fashioned but hey, at least you can attempt to read them when the electricity supply fails (at night time you can use candles!!!).

          The window of opportunity for getting at knowledge on various media is decreasing exponentionally. For example: books can still be accessed (ever since they were invented essentially). However, nowadays it is getting harder to g

  • What about (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:48PM (#11546600)
    What about the Pink Shirt book; the Devil book; the Dragon book; or the Red book, otherwise known as the ugly Red Book that won't fit on a shelf... Will these books also be auctioned off?

    Signed,
    Joey

  • 255 lots? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Mononoke (88668) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:51PM (#11546623) Homepage Journal
    In an auction of the history of cyberspace, shouldn't there really be 256?

  • Intrigued, but annoyed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by geekwench (644364) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @07:57PM (#11546667)
    Wow, I am simply amazed at the collection of Geek History 101 on display. (The copy of R.U.R is enough to make me want to smash the piggy bank.) All of this stuff is, apparently, one person's collected library on the origins of cyberspace. (See here [historyofscience.com] for further information.)

    ...Which brings me to the annoyance factor. This collection is going to be scattered to the four winds. Looking at some of the pre-auction estimates, no one person, and very few institutions, will have the scratch that it would take to keep the collection together. Taken seperately, each of these items has a historical context, but taken together, they chart the idealistic, scientific, and technological foundations of the Internet.

    Auctioning the library off in such a piecemeal fashion just seems wrong, IMNSHO.

    • Looking at some of the pre-auction estimates,

      no one person, and very few institutions, will have the scratch that it would take to keep the collection together

      What do you mean - I know people that this would be chump change for (ever go on a drinking spree with someone with more money than sense and get a sip of whiskey out of a multi-thousand dollar bottle ?)

      Bill G easily has this kind of money - heck the brothers google do as well.

      I could see Andy B from Sun, Steve Jobs from Apple, and maybe the Woz

      • Re:I am annoyed as well (Score:4, Interesting)

        by RedWizzard (192002) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @09:35PM (#11547183)
        I agree it's a shame this material will become scattered all around, but the thing that bothers me the most is that much of this stuff will end up in a bunch of different private collections. Stuff like this should be kept together in a safe place after making digital copies and publishing them on the internet to be shared with everybody.
        Why? Most of these lots are just first edition printings of academic papers. There's nothing especially unique about the content of these copies, and in most cases the text is already available on the net. It's not like these are the only copies of the works.
  • Don't grab the marshmallows to toast over their flaming servers just yet; the traffic isn't doing a damn thing.

    Christie's site always runs more slowly than molasses in a North Dakota winter.

  • for "Alan Turning's original proof of universal computability"

    On the other hand, if they had Turing's, I would definitly fork over the cash.

  • How about a benefactor? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by xbytor (215790) on Tuesday February 01 2005, @08:12PM (#11546759) Homepage
    Why doesn't Paul Allen or Bill Gates cough up some $$$ to buy the entire collection and donate it to the Smithsonian? Somebody in the biz with the bucks needs to step up to the plate here..

    ciao,
    -X

  • buy the catalog (Score:4, Interesting)

    by subtropolis (748348) on Wednesday February 02 2005, @12:31AM (#11548009)

    i have no connection w/ christies whatsoever. But i suggest buying the catalog if this interests you. I had a friend a few years back who lent me his catalog for a very comprehensive auction of Soviet space program stuff. Like full suits. 1:1 models of lunar landers. Some very cool stuff. The catalog was well put together, with lots of large images. Definitely worth the 30 bones.

    why did i ever give it back to him?

    • Re:Bill Gates (Score:2, Funny)

      by ackthpt (218170) *
      If I were Bill Gates I'd shell out some money for that stuff.

      And then what? Dig a hole in your back yard and burn everything in it that challenges your vise-like grip on the IT market? Or file it away, with a very Blofeld-ish, "Quaint, quaint."

    • I know, it is getting harder and harder for Microsoft to find ideas.
    • Why do you say that...

      Just because you don't have the money doesn't mean quite a few people don't. I would expect historically interesting documents to fetch a decent price. Someone will want them, hopefully for a museum (A tech museum somewhere) - I could see Bill J, Scott M, Bill G, Steve J. putting bids on documents that particularly inspired them.

    • Some people have more dollars than sense (say it out loud)

      • Re:One man's trash... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Hnice (60994)
        yeah, either the estimates or stupid, or

        and i'm going out on a limb here

        christie's employs people with experience in correctly valuing antiques and memorabilia. gee, i wonder who i should trust -- the experts, with years of proven experience in the field, or an anonymous coward?

        yawn.

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