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Lot 7

BABBAGE ON HIS DIFFERENCE ENGINE.
Autograph Letter Signed ("Charles Babbage"), an invitation to visit his difference engine at engineer Joseph Clement's with John Rennie,

13 – 23 October 2024, 12:00 EDT
Online, New York

Sold for US$8,960 inc. premium

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BABBAGE ON HIS DIFFERENCE ENGINE.

Autograph Letter Signed ("Charles Babbage"), an invitation to visit his difference engine at engineer Joseph Clement's with John Rennie, 1 p, 8vo, 202 x 161 mm, Dorset St, July 22, 1832, old folds.

ON THE FIRST ITERATION OF BABBAGE'S DIFFERENCE ENGINE. Early in 1832, Babbage instructed his chief engineer Joseph Clement to finish construction on a prototype for exhibition purposes. In reality, this iteration of Babbage's Difference Engine No. 1, about 1/7 of the total machine, is the first produced automatic calculator, the ur-computer, as well as the only working model of Babbage's difference engine produced in his lifetime. At the time, Babbage and Clement were struggling to get promised funds from the government who was pushing to move the Engine production from Clement's premises to a new warehouse. Babbage was actively engaged in trying to promote this remarkable working prototype with an eye toward raising much-needed money and support. While Clement and Babbage split in 1833, this prototype would be viewed by Lady Byron and her daughter Ada Lovelace in June of that year, inspiring Lovelace with "the great beauty of the invention." Lovelace, more than anyone else, recognized the application for Babbage's engine beyond just calculations, and in 1843 conjectured an algorithm for computing Bernoulli numbers, in essence the first computer program.

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