Sometimes the most extraordinary treasures are hiding in the most ordinary places.
That was exactly the case for a collection of groundbreaking work by computer science pioneer Alan Turing.
His lost writings were found gathering dust in an attic—and they nearly ended up in a shredder.
Instead, they fetched a staggering £465,500 at auction, proving once again how Turing’s legacy continues to captivate the world.
The Remarkable Discovery in a Loft
The papers, now famously called the Alan Turing Papers, had been tucked away in the attic of mathematician Norman Routledge, a close friend of Turing’s.
After Turing’s tragic death in 1954, his mother Ethel Turing passed the papers to Norman, confident her son’s brilliance deserved to be preserved.
But after Norman passed away, the collection went unnoticed—until his relatives began clearing out the loft while preparing for a house move.
Priceless Pages Hidden in Plain Sight
It wasn’t until a family reunion in 2024 that someone decided to bring the papers along in a simple carrier bag.
One relative had a hunch they might be important and took them to a Rare Book Auctions valuation event.
That’s where Jim Spencer, the auctioneer from Lichfield, had his jaw-dropping moment.
He described opening the bag and being completely floored by what he saw: original offprints of Turing’s foundational work on computing, carefully preserved in their original academic wrappings.
Turing’s Most Influential Works Go Under the Hammer
Among the standout items was Turing’s signed 1938 PhD dissertation, titled Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals, which sold for £110,500.
Even more valuable was his famous 1936 paper On Computable Numbers, which introduced the revolutionary concept of a universal computing machine—it went for £208,000.
This single work is often described as the very first instruction manual for modern computers.
A Legacy Nearly Lost Forever
The fact that these papers were almost destroyed is something Spencer still finds hard to believe.
He called it the most important archive he’s ever handled.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,” he said.
“To think they were inches away from being shredded, and now they’ll go on to inspire generations—that’s an emotional journey.”
Turing’s Life: Genius Shadowed by Tragedy
While Turing’s impact on the world is monumental—he played a key role in cracking the German Enigma code during WWII—his personal life was marked by cruelty and injustice.
He was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexuality, which was illegal at the time, and was sentenced to chemical castration.
Two years later, at the age of 41, he died from cyanide poisoning in what was ruled a suicide—though his mother always believed it was an accident.
The Letter That Moved the World
One of the most emotional items linked to Turing is a letter he sent to Norman Routledge before pleading guilty in 1952.
Titled “Yours in distress,” the letter details his legal troubles and feelings of fear and uncertainty.
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch famously read it during the film The Imitation Game, which depicted Turing’s life and work.
More Than Just Maths: Biology, Letters, and Legacy
The archive also included Turing’s final major published work—The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis—a brilliant piece of mathematical biology that laid the groundwork for theoretical biology models.
The collection even contained letters from author E.M. Forster, offering a glimpse into the intellectual circles Turing was part of.
A Family’s Pride and a Nation’s Memory
One of Norman’s nieces reflected on how much family meant to him, and how the reunion gave them the chance to share his legacy.
“We brought the papers not realizing how significant they were.
Thankfully, one cousin suggested getting them appraised.”
Turing Lives On Through These Pages
For Jim Spencer, handling the papers wasn’t just an auction—it was a journey through the mind of a genius.
“Studying his writing felt like reading a language from another planet.
And yet, it’s heartbreaking to remember how he was treated during his lifetime.”
These rescued works now serve as powerful reminders of Turing’s enduring brilliance—and the importance of never letting history’s greatest minds be forgotten.