A remarkable cache of scientific papers by Alan Turing, discovered in a plastic carrier bag and nearly shredded, has achieved a record-breaking price of £465,400 at auction
The papers weee saved just in time thanks to the curiosity of a family and the sharp eye of Charles Hanson at Hansons Auctioneers.
Charles Hanson, manager of Hansons, was astonished when the documents surfaced during a valuation event in Nottinghamshire. Reflecting on the find, he said:
“Knowing Turing’s legacy – his life, his brilliance, and his contribution to modern computing – I was completely taken aback. How does one even begin to place a value on such a legacy? That’s why, through Hansons’ Rare Book Auctions arm, led by the brilliant Jim Spencer, we were able to piece together the significance of these documents. The result was an outpouring of global interest, and a reminder that Turing’s life and achievements must continue to be celebrated and studied.”
The collection, which had been stashed away in a loft for decades, was consigned for sale by the family of Norman Routledge – a mathematician and long-time friend of Turing. Astonishingly, the documents had been gifted to Routledge by Turing’s mother, Ethel, and included some of the most significant and rare academic offprints of the 20th century.
The centrepieces included Turing’s PhD dissertation, Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals (1938–39), and On Computable Numbers (1936–37) – both hailed as foundational works in the field of theoretical computer science. Each carried an auction estimate of £40,000–£60,000, but competitive bidding online, in the room and on five open phonelines pushed prices well beyond estimates, with:
