![KING, Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-52). Autograph letter signed to Albany Fonblanque (1793-1872). Ashley Combe, Porlock [in Somerset, England], September 6, n.d. [not before 1838]. 1 page, plus integral blank leaf.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01484_0031_000(093218).jpg?w=1)
The Origins of Cyberspace collection described as lots 1-255 will first be offered as a single lot, subject to a reserve price. If this price is not reached, the collection will be immediately offered as individual lots as described in the catalogue as lots 1-255.
KING, Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-52). Autograph letter signed to Albany Fonblanque (1793-1872). Ashley Combe, Porlock [in Somerset, England], September 6, n.d. [not before 1838]. 1 page, plus integral blank leaf.
Details
KING, Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-52). Autograph letter signed to Albany Fonblanque (1793-1872). Ashley Combe, Porlock [in Somerset, England], September 6, n.d. [not before 1838]. 1 page, plus integral blank leaf.
"Have you forgotten your promise to come here? The weather seems now very tolerable (& sometimes really delightful). -- Babbage is here. I hope you will come before he goes."
Augusta Ada King, later Countess of Lovelace, was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron, who separated permanently from his wife shortly after Ada's birth. Byron's wife, Annabella Milbanke, was a woman of high intelligence and superior mathematical ability, both of which traits she passed on to her daughter. During her youth Ada was instructed in mathematics (a highly unusual circumstance in an age that severely limited women's education), and continued her mathematical studies after she reached adulthood, receiving tutoring in advanced mathematics from Augustus De Morgan, the first professor of mathematics at the University of London. In 1835 she married William King, eighth Baron King; when King was elevated to an earldom three years later, Ada became Countess of Lovelace.
Ada first met Babbage in 1833, when she was eighteen and he was forty-two. She was fascinated with Babbage's Difference Engine and with his plans for the Analytical Engine, and offered Babbage her services as a mathematician. Their collaboration began in earnest in early 1843, when at the suggestion of Charles, Ada prepared a translation of Luigi Menabrea's article on the Analytical Engine. Babbage and Ada remained friends until her death from cervical cancer in 1852.
Albany Fonblanque, the recipient of Lady Lovelace's letter, was the owner and editor of the Examiner, one of the leading liberal newspapers published in England during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was associated with the causes of Utilitarianism and radical reform, both of which were close to Babbage's heart. On Lady Lovelace's death Fonblanque published an obituary of her in the Examiner; see Randall 1982a, 457. Autograph letters by Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace are very rare on the market. OOC 57.
"Have you forgotten your promise to come here? The weather seems now very tolerable (& sometimes really delightful). -- Babbage is here. I hope you will come before he goes."
Augusta Ada King, later Countess of Lovelace, was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron, who separated permanently from his wife shortly after Ada's birth. Byron's wife, Annabella Milbanke, was a woman of high intelligence and superior mathematical ability, both of which traits she passed on to her daughter. During her youth Ada was instructed in mathematics (a highly unusual circumstance in an age that severely limited women's education), and continued her mathematical studies after she reached adulthood, receiving tutoring in advanced mathematics from Augustus De Morgan, the first professor of mathematics at the University of London. In 1835 she married William King, eighth Baron King; when King was elevated to an earldom three years later, Ada became Countess of Lovelace.
Ada first met Babbage in 1833, when she was eighteen and he was forty-two. She was fascinated with Babbage's Difference Engine and with his plans for the Analytical Engine, and offered Babbage her services as a mathematician. Their collaboration began in earnest in early 1843, when at the suggestion of Charles, Ada prepared a translation of Luigi Menabrea's article on the Analytical Engine. Babbage and Ada remained friends until her death from cervical cancer in 1852.
Albany Fonblanque, the recipient of Lady Lovelace's letter, was the owner and editor of the Examiner, one of the leading liberal newspapers published in England during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was associated with the causes of Utilitarianism and radical reform, both of which were close to Babbage's heart. On Lady Lovelace's death Fonblanque published an obituary of her in the Examiner; see Randall 1982a, 457. Autograph letters by Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace are very rare on the market. OOC 57.
Further details
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