A notebook used by Alan Turing, the mathematician who helped the Allies break German communication codes, will be hitting the auction block in April in New York. Turing’s story is the subject of the Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game.
Bonhams announced that the 56-page notebook will be auctioned off during the auction house’s Fine Books & Manuscripts sale on April 13. They expect it to sell for at least $1 million and proceeds will go to charity.
The notebook is dated 1942, when Turing was working on the German Enigma Code at Bletchley Park. It has never been seen by the public and is the only known extensive notebook written by Turing. The text inside gives a remarkable look at how Turing worked out the code.
Robin Gandy, one of Turing’s friends, received the notebook in Turing’s will. Gandy left most of Turing’s papers at the Archive Center at King’s College in Cambridge in 1977, but he held on to this notebook. He wrote about his personal dreams in the blank pages left by Turing and kept it a secret until he died.
After World War II, Turing was prosecuted for being a homosexual. In 1954, he committed suicide after being forced to take a hormone treatment in pace of jail time.
“Alan Turing was a war hero, who broke the Enigma code helping to bring an end to World War II, the father of modern computing science, and a gay icon who lived in a time of intolerance and tragically committed suicide as a result,” Benedict Cumberbatch, who has been nominated for an Oscar for playing Turing, said in a statement. “His impact on our everyday lives is enormous, and the thought of being able to hold a manuscript that was written by him is thrilling.”
The Imitation Game is also up for Best Picture and Best Director for Morten Tyldum. Keira Knightley was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress.