REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONSIDER THE ADVISABILITY AND TO ESTIMATE THE EXPENSE OF CONSTRUCTING MR. BABBAGE'S ANALYTICAL MACHINE, AND OF PRINTING TABLES BY ITS MEANS

(Charles Babbage) ;Merrifield, CW

Published by British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1878

About this Item

n Report of the Forty-Eighth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1878 pp. 92-102. London: John Murray, 1879. First Edition. Offered is Very Good+ entire volume of the 1878 Report of the British Association For the Advancement of Science in cloth binding with gilt lettering spine. Mild cover edge wear. owner name front paste down. Foxing edges, scattered on pages. 8vo. Hardcover. Very Good+The Merrifield report is Origins of cyberspace No. 90. The committee's report on the feasibility of constructing Babbage's Analytical Engine was based on materials supplied by Babbage's son Henry Prevost Babbage, to whom Babbage entrusted the plans for his unrealized calculating engines upon his death. The committee concluded that, while Babbage's work on his calculating engines was "a marvel of mechanical ingenuity and resource," and "the existence of such an instrument would place within reach much which, if not actually impossible, has been too close to the limits of human skill and endurance to be practically available," the machine's incomplete design and probable high construction cost ("tens of thousands of pounds at least") made it impossible for the committee to recommend taking any further action on building the Analytical Engine. (Randall: Origins of Digital Computers).Ask for pictures.

Seller Inventory # 3000310

Bibliographic Details

• Title: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONSIDER THE ADVISABILITY AND TO ESTIMATE THE EXPENSE OF CONSTRUCTING MR. BABBAGE'S ANALYTICAL MACHINE, AND OF PRINTING TABLES BY ITS MEANS
• Publisher: British Association for the Advancement of Science
• Publication Date: 1878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket