Lot 23A email save

Babbage, Menabrea & Lovelace.

Babbage (Charles), Luigi Federico Menabrea and A[ugusta] A[da] L[ovelace]. History of Mr. Babbage's Calculating Engines,

comprising Menabrea (Luigi Federico) Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, first English edition, [translated by Augusta Ada Lovelace], pp.6-20; [Lovelace (Augusta Ada)] Notes by the Translator, pp.21-50, folding table, 16 plates, many folding or double-page, 2 hand-coloured; all preceded by Statement of the circumstances attending the Invention and Construction of Mr.Babbage's Calculating Engines, ?by Lovelace, originally published in the September 1843 issue of the Philosophical Magazine, and Article XXIX [notes on papers relating to Babbage's Analytical & Difference Engines], commences on gathering B (lacking ?title), presentation copy to the Institution of Civil Engineers, ICE ink stamp on first & one other page, ink notations on plates, original blind-tooled green cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, spine slightly darkened and rubbed, minor splitting, 4to, [?1843].

***Ada Augusta Lovelace (1815-1852), mathematician, daughter of Lord Byron. "Ada was brought up in the sole custody of her mother, who kept her out of the limelight. She was educated to be a mathematician and a scientist because her mother feared that she might turn out to be a poet like her father. A lonely but imaginative child, she was taught by a series of tutors (including the celebrated mathematician Augustus De Morgan) and at an early age was fascinated by mechanical things and toyed with the idea of designs for a flying machine powered by steam. When she was seventeen, in 1833, she met Charles Babbage, most likely through the natural philosopher Mary Somerville, a mutual acquaintance. Babbage showed Ada his first calculating engine, the difference engine, and her interest in mathematics was transformed from a duty to a joy. Ada is best-known for her incisive notes and comments on Babbage's plans for an analytical engine. Because she was an independent (albeit enthusiastic) observer, and possessed a marked talent for conveying new and sometimes difficult concepts in limpid prose, her writings on this topic are much valued by historians. In November 1834 Babbage first shared with her his general idea for a new calculating engine that would not only have foresight but could act on that foresight. According to Lady Byron's diaries, Ada was touched by the 'universality of his ideas' (Toole, 69). In 1843 she translated a paper by General L. F. Menabrea, later to be prime minister of Italy, describing Babbage's main attempt to implement this notion, the projected analytical engine...She added extensive notes to Menabrea's paper which contain not only what is regarded as one of the earliest computer programs but also prescient comments about the future of such an engine, which have stood the test of time." DNB. This copy was presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers by Henry Marc Brunel, youngest son of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and also an engineer, in 1889. The inked titles and dimensions on some of the plates are possibly in his hand. The importance of this edition, with Lovelace's significant contributions, was reappraised in the 20th century, with the work being reissued in 1953 for the centenary of her premature death..