Alan Turing papers found in loft and nearly shredded to be auctioned

Scientific papers belonging to Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing which were discovered in a loft and nearly shredded are expected to fetch thousands of pounds at auction next month.

The archive of papers belonging to the mathematician include a signed personal copy of his 1939 PhD dissertation Systems Of Logic Based On Ordinals’ and On Computable Numbers from 1937, described as the first programming manual of the computer age.

Rare Book Auctions in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the firm handling the sale, revealed the archive had originally been gifted to Turing’s friend and fellow mathematician Norman Routledge by his mother Ethel.

The papers were found in an attic and brought to the auction house in a carrier bag (Rare Book Auctions/PA)

The papers, known as “offprints”, were produced in small numbers and distributed within academia, making them scarce survivors that rarely appear on the market.

Turing’s PhD alone has been valued at between £40,000 and £60,000 by the auction house.

Routledge kept the papers, which also included letters from novelist EM Forster, and on his death they were taken to a relative’s loft after his Bermondsey home was cleared out.

Explaining how they were rediscovered, one of Routledge’s nieces said: “When he died in 2013, two of his sisters had the unenviable task of sorting through and emptying the contents.

Among the collection is a telegram sent from Turing to his friend and fellow mathematician Norman Routledge (Rare Book Auctions/PA)

“There were lots of personal papers which one sister carted away and stored in her loft. The papers lay dormant until she moved into a care home almost a decade later.

“Her daughters came across the papers and considered shredding everything. Fortunately, they checked with Norman’s nieces and nephews because he’d always been a presence in our lives.

“Norman was an amazing man who showed genuine interest in everyone he came into contact with. His family were very important to him. He kept in regular contact and was interested in what each one was doing.

On Computable Numbers introduced the world to the idea of a ‘universal computing machine’ and has been described as the first programming manual of the computer age (Rare Book Auctions/PA)

“We finally had an opportunity to see Norman’s papers when the family hosted a ‘Routledge Reunion’ weekend in November 2024.

“The papers were brought along in a carrier bag. One cousin felt the Turing and Forster papers might be of interest to collectors.”

Jim Spencer, director of Rare Book Auctions, described the collection as “the most important archive I’ve ever handled”, adding: “Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I was about to find in that carrier bag.”

He said: “These seemingly plain papers – perfectly preserved in the muted colours of their unadorned, academic wrappers – represent the foundations of computer science and modern digital computing.

The collection also includes The Chemical Basis Of Morphogenesis, from 1952 – Turing’s last major published work (Rare Book Auctions/PA)

“Literature has always been my forte, not mathematics, so the past few months of intensively researching and cataloguing these papers has left me feeling that Alan Turing was superhuman.

“For me, it’s like studying the language of another planet, something composed by an ultra-intelligent civilisation.

“It’s at least comforting to know that he lives on through his work. He survives through his legacy.”

The collection also includes The Chemical Basis Of Morphogenesis. Dating from 1952, it is Turing’s lesser-known masterpiece of mathematical biology, and his last major published work.

The letter from Ethel Turing to Norman Routledge (Rare Book Auctions/PA)

A single piece of paper which was Turing’s first published paper in 1935, Equivalence Of Left And Right Almost Periodicity, also forms part of the archive.

It was gifted to Routledge by Turing’s mother Ethel and her handwritten letter dated May 16 1956 is also included.

The letter reads: “I have to-day sent by registered post 13 of Alan’s off-prints…I have had some requests to write a biography of Alan…I have masses of material because from the time he was about 6 I spotted a winner – despite many detractors at school – and kept many papers about him.”

Spencer added: “This fascinating letter is a golden thread that neatly ties up and seals the authenticity of everything being offered.”

The Alan Turing Papers: The Collection Of Norman Routledge (1928-2013) will be held on June 17 by Rare Book Auctions, Lichfield. Bidding will be available worldwide.