The History of Computing Auctioned at Christie's

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."

Hey baby

[Anonymous Coward]

Wanna see my authetic Vint Cerf letter from 1974?

The sale's not going well

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Apparently the entire online catalog is Slashdotted.

Do they have...

[Anonymous Coward]

The history of the history of recursion?

Re:Do they have...

[Anonymous Coward]

The history of the history of recursion?

yes [slashdot.org]

Re:Do they have...

[nacturation]

Have a post which links to itself and then I'll be impressed!

Re:Do they have...

[arose]

Try the number right of the date. :-D

Re:Do they have...

[tonsofpcs]

I'll try: http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=138 035&cid=11547931 [slashdot.org]

Re:Sure!!!

[nacturation]

Now that's just cheating... but you had me going for a second! :)

Re:MOD PARENT UP

[spac3manspiff]

return 0;

Re:Do they have...

[stephenisu]

Stocked in the department of redundancy department.

See the section labeled department of redundancy department.

Re:Do they have...

[Alien Being]

Stocked in the department of redundancy department."

I think you mean 'stacked'.

To find out...

[jd]

Go to the reply to the parent post that tells you where to find out.

No, but...

[game kid]

...it would be cool if it would be cool if it was there.

Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[dabigpaybackski]

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?

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[Anonymous Coward]

- These books belong in a museum.
- So do you!

(sorry bad joke)

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[Usquebaugh]

Yep,

put them in a museum but how about PDF or PS copies on line. I want to read this stuff but not at the price being asked.

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[mOoZik]

I think we need a good computer museum. We have a few, but most of them are just a collection of old, dingy machines for one's drooling-over. We need something that has machines, documents, letters, books, components, video interviews, chip prototypes, interactive sections, and so on and so forth! But these will most likely go to a private collection, though museums often bid in these auctions.

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[Jason Scott]

Haven't been to the Computer History Museum [computerhistory.org] in Mountain View, California, have you? I reccommend seeing what they have and where they're going with it.

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[HyperCash]

I second this. Their website really could use some work though. The measuem has all sorts of neat stuff and a great staff that has a lot of knowledge about it.

--HC

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[Speare]

After three or four postings which all spelled it correctly, the best you could come up with is measuem? Public school, right?

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[PsiPsiStar]

And pong! So we can see how our forefathers entertained themselves.

And how about selling Altair kits in the gift shop?

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[syousef]

What use is putting original papers behind glass in a museum? You can't read them like that. The artifacts aren't nearly as important as the ideas, both from a historical perspective and a scientific one. Make sure copies are available for download on the net and that people know where to look for them instead.

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[ScrewMaster]

Yes, well, besides the UK and the U.S., who else was involved in creating all that history? Go screw yourself.

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[sconeu]

Konrad Zuse?

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[dabigpaybackski]

Ahem, gentlemen, I suggested the Smithsonian because it is a prominent and extremely well-funded American museum that might be amenable to sponsering an international exhibit of this kind. I had not intended the suggestion as a slight to other nationalities, but being the bigoted American cunt that I am, it was the first idea that came to mind. But to tell the truth, the guy posting below is basically correct about modern computers being of U.S. and U.K. origin, having been employed with staggering success in the early days to crack the Axis codes. And as for the PC, that is indisputably an American innovation.

Re:Historical Documents Deserve A Prominent Place.

[syousef]

Well buy them and donate them or better yet buld the museum yourself.

Let me guess. You're the kind of fool that tells an end user who tries out Linux and has a problem that they should build a solution to the problem themselves, if one doesn't exist.

Bill Gates

[kaedemichi255]

If I were Bill Gates I'd shell out some money for that stuff.

Re:Bill Gates

[ackthpt]

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."

Re:Bill Gates

[Anonymous Coward]

destroy the documented prior art and file new patents.

Re:Bill Gates

[MerlynEmrys67]

I know, it is getting harder and harder for Microsoft to find ideas.

Paul Allen

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Actually his Evil Twin Paul Allen would be a better bet.

Re:Bill Gates

[westlake]

If I were Bill Gates I'd shell out some money for that stuff.

Perhaps he will. He purchased Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester at auction for $30 million and founded Corbis, which owns historically significant collections like the Bettmann Achieve.

Re:Bill Gates

[LO0G]

Don't forget Bob Metcalf, Larry Ellison, and Scott McNealy. Oh, and Nathan Myrvhold.

The bidding on some of these pieces is going to be insane.

getting slow

[QuantumRiff]

Coral here [nyud.net]

Computors

[Rares Marian]

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

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

Indeed. For penance, do 3 Gentoo stage 2 installs, and learn to send mail with Emacs.

Re:Computors

[ornil]

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.

Re:Computors

[PGillingwater]

Don't forget that Frank Herbert (of "Dune" fame) also wrote of people who did the work of computers, the "mentats." In his case, this was a deliberate choice, due to the earlier problems with rogue AIs.

I have...

[TechyImmigrant]

I have Charles Babbage's ego in a box somewhere. Should be worth a bit.

Re:I have...

[Xeo 024]

I'll give you a nickel, but you have to pay shipping. I could use a box.

Oh sure, but...

[dameron]

you can't return it if it's out of the shrinkwrap.

Duh.

-dameron

estimated bids are ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

The estimated bids for these items are ridiculously inflated. If they get 10% of what they are estimating they will be doing great.

Re:estimated bids are ridiculous

[MerlynEmrys67]

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.

Re:estimated bids are ridiculous

[Hnice]

sure they are.

god forbid we should trust people who do this -- well -- for a living, when we can trust a guy on slashdot who has an opinion and fingers.

One man's trash...

[winkydink]

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

Re:One man's trash...

[Hnice]

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.

It can't be!

[pjt33]

But a dollar's a hundred sense!

Also featured on Page 3 of the catalog...

[GillBates0]

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.

As the Alan Turns...

[bandix]

Alan Turning, Alan Turing's little known revolutionary (pun intended) contemporary.

Re:As the Alan Turns...

[OneIsNotPrime]

Alan Turing is spinning in his grave.

Turing's grave was dug by intolerance.

[TapeCutter]

The authorities hounded Turing into killing himself because everyone knows a gay geek can't be trusted. Outside of computer nerds not many people have even heard of him, let alone know what he did in WW2 or how he died.

Re:As the Alan Turns...

[Anonymous Custard]

Alan Turing is spinning in his grave.

Will he ever stop spinning, or will his ghost keep halting me forever???

Re:As the Alan Turns...

[rishistar]

Alan Turning invented the on button....

Worth noting

[rackhamh]

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

[bwcarty]

That's because it's all DRM free.

Re:Worth noting

[MightyMartian]

> That's because it's all DRM free.

Hah! I bet if you try to read the material without the Rights Sunglasses, your eyes will explode.

Re:Worth noting

[gstoddart]

Grandparent says ....

Isn't it interesting that in an era when digitization and electronic archival are increasingly important, memorabilia such as this is so highly valued?

parent says ...

That's because it's all DRM free.

You laugh, but there's a grain of truth to it actually. Think of all of the patents which have been granted which cover some of the aspects held in this haul.

If someone who didn't play well with other children owned these, could they conveniently forget about all of the prior art

Re:Worth noting

[Telvin_3d]

A connection to the past is an important part of the human condition. I think it speaks highly that people that spend so much time using these wonderful tools value the history behind them so much. It really makes you think about the stereotype of geeks and IT people being so obsessed with the future.

Re:Worth noting

[starseeker]

Indeed. In some sense this charts the rise of the internet as the work of human beings, rather than just technical steps.

Implicit in this statement is the (vaild) observation that much human thought which has only ever existed as digital records will not retain the personal, tangible quality physical records have.

Also interesting is the potential that, if our society ever self destructs, a truly staggering body of knowledge will be lost. I know, no one thinks this is likely. They probably thought the s

Re:Worth noting

[timeOday]

Also interesting is the potential that, if our society ever self destructs, a truly staggering body of knowledge will be lost.

Are people happier now than they used to be?

Re:Worth noting

[pxpt]

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

Dang!

[ackthpt]

Where's that old C64 when I need a few hundred thousand... man, what people will pay for outdated tech!

Re:Dang!

[ScrewMaster]

I have one, if you're interested. Special deal, today only ... $50,000.

What about

[Anonymous Coward]

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

sort of

[k2enemy]

sometime in the 90s the DOD stopped giving hard copies of the rainbow books out to the public. i waited a few years after they stopped and sold mine on ebay for around 500.

255 lots?

[Mononoke]

In an auction of the history of cyberspace, shouldn't there really be 256?

Re:255 lots?

[stephenisu]

They started the counting at zero, the reporter didn't get the joke. :)

No, 255 is correct.

[jd]

Remember, 0 is NULL.

Re:No, 255 is correct.

[Dogtanian]

Nope, 2^8 is 256 therefor you can store 256 different values in 1 byte. And an unisgned data type (i.e. char) can store 256 different values. 0 != NULL in this case and you have to count it in with the other 255 possibillities.

0 isn't NULL, but it *is*.... zero.

Are we to assume that Christies are never out of stock and we can use the '0' to represent something else?

Re:No, 255 is correct.

[jd]

hint: to represent nothing, you don't have to represent it with something.

That's what everyone thought, until the Arabs went and invented this damn 0 thing. :)

The problem is not merely that you have to represent zero items, but rather that you have to have something to represent when there's nothing more to represent. This is known as a sentinel value. In C, the value of 0 is used to terminate strings. You cannot have a 0 in a string, because otherwise all strings would be infinitely long.

(Infinite,

Re:No, 255 is correct.

[asliarun]

"That's what everyone thought, until the Arabs went and invented this damn 0 thing. :)"

Sorry to pick nits, but 0 was invented (discovered?) in India. The arabs copied the numeral system from the Indians and the other civilizations copied it from the arabs. Hence, the so-called Arabic numeral system is really the Indian numeral system. Or so, i've read somewhere :-)

Re:255 lots?

[Rakshasa Taisab]

But if they added one more they would sell nothing.

Re:255 lots?

[Dogtanian]

In an auction of the history of cyberspace, shouldn't there really be 256?

If they slap in another lot, it'll roll round to 0. Damn those legacy systems!

Intrigued, but annoyed

[geekwench]

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.

Re:Intrigued, but annoyed

[MerlynEmrys67]

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:Intrigued, but annoyed

[Anonymous Coward]

It is probably true that this collection won't be bought by one individual. But many institutions do buy this sort of material in extremely large quantities, or they are bought by individuals to be later donated to such institutions.

Furthermore, there are Rare Book Libraries all over the place who already have a lot of this kind of material (i happen to work in one of them). That means if the material does get scattered to a certain extent, the material is going to be added to these kind of collections tha

I am annoyed as well

[Adrian Lopez]

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.

Re:I am annoyed as well

[RedWizzard]

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.

Re:Intrigued, but annoyed

[Wolfbone]

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

Whether that is wrong or not, I do think important historical documents should be electronically 'preserved' and made available for the benefit of the public. Some institutions and companies make an effort but not all and quality is variable - the British Library recently scanned some 17th century Shakespeare Quartos and put images of them up online in jpeg format. They are readable but not as readable as if they'd used some

For those gloating over the latest Slashdotting...

[geekwench]

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.

Re:For those gloating over the latest Slashdotting

[thogard]

I think if I was paying them 10 to 25% of the millions they collect, they could at least get a professional to build their web site.

The only other sites I know that are this slow are scammer sites.

Turning?

[yodaj007]

I bet Alan Turing is Turning pale.

I wouldn't pay a dime...

[HungSoLow]

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.

Re:I wouldn't pay a dime...

[XSforMe]

Given that some of these documents (including Turing's Proof of Computing) are just prints [christies.com] of some antique conference proceedings, I would think twice about cracking the piggy.

Now, if these were Turing's original manuscripts, I'd might even consider spilling the 20000 for them (of course, my wife would leave me if she found out what I bought for that price) =)

Oops.

[game kid]

Alan Turning's original proof of universal computability?

I read that as compatibility. That would have helped my programming and explained his homosexuality [lambda.net] all at once! (Not that I have anything against that.)

How about a benefactor?

[xbytor]

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

Re:How about a benefactor?

[Trogre]

Because those two people you mentioned have built their empire on obscuring what computing really is and how it came to be.

Re:How about a benefactor?

[syousef]

It doesn't benefit them. Its probably not tax deductible or something. If they gave away money at the drop of a hat like that, they'd never have become rich in the first place.

This is where Bill Gates should step in

[kbahey]

This is where Bill Gates should step in and buy these things, thus preserving them for posterity.

It would be a shame if this collection is to be fragmented (although it is not by one author or decade) and sold to different people, and perhaps different countries.

Who else would be in the computer industry and have the money to buy all this. Unless it is Larry Ellison tried to one up Gates that is...

Re:This is where Bill Gates should step in

[Sam Nitzberg]

I'd actually like to see the Smithsonian pick them up. The Smithsonian actually has in Washington, DC a rather nice computer exhibit.

I'd like to see these on permanent display by an organization whose sole function is to make great works available to the public.

Sam Nitzberg

Re:This is where Bill Gates should step in

[kbahey]

I agree with you that a public institution is far better than a private collection.

However, do they have the money? Do they have a chance to win the auction?

Bill G (or Larry E) is not my first choice, but rather a last resort, because he has the money.

Cerf article

[mackman]

Check out the estimated price on the 1974 journal article by Vinton Cerf describing IP adressing.

Once again Gore is buying up evidence that disproves he invented the internet.

Re:Cerf article

[slickwillie]

Maybe someone can dig out the specs for the first spellchecker.

Those papers...

[Anonymous Coward]

...belong in a museum! *cracks Indy whip*

Intrestingly Enough

[umrgregg]

My undergraduate university is in possesion of the journal article's listed for sale--in their original journals of course. I wonder what other expensive articles I can go in and mark up with my highlighter ;)

can I pay...

[same_old_story]

with stock options?

buy the catalog

[subtropolis]

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?

history of computers...

[torrents]

wouldn't it make sense to put it on ebay?

Why?

[J. Random Luser]

Being plain nosey I scratched around various blogs and the owners' site, but I don't see any rational explanation for this sale. If Jeremy has fallen on bad times and needs the cash I can forgive him, but this collection is a significant fraction of the sum total of human knowledge, and thus belongs to all mankind. Dispersing it to the four winds is usually the lot of soul-less deceased estate executors.

should be scanned

[Dr.Knackerator]

All the docs should be scanned/ocrd and mad available for free on the net. To not do so would be highly ironic.