Now At: $200 (1 bid)
Next Bid: $220
The 30 Minute Rule begins March 20 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By March 20 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
Scarce unsigned book: Literary Machines, Edition 87.1 by hypertext pioneer Ted Nelson. Self-published, 1987. Staple-bound softcover with rare original aluminum foil spine cover, 7.75 x 8.5, 263 pages. Includes a red felt tip signature of Ted Nelson, “T. Nelson, Project Xanadu,” on an off-white 4.5 x 2.25 sheet clipped from the return address area of the shipping envelope mailed to the book’s original recipient. In overall fine condition, with toning and staining to the book covers, the spine cover detached but present, and creasing and toning to the signature sheet.
Literary Machines is Nelson's fleshed-out concept for a sophisticated networked hypertext system. An actual software implementation, the storied Project Xanadu, was later attempted by Autodesk in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the partly competing concept of the World Wide Web gained traction. This Edition 87.1 is mid-timeframe, self-published; the editions spanned 1981-1993, with the last produced by Mindful Press/Eastgate Systems.
Despite Nelson's unrealized project, his influence on the emergence of hypertext since the 1960s was profound. He and hypertext/mouse/networking implementer Doug Engelbart were already friends and collaborators by the time Engelbart gave his 'Mother of all Demos' in 1968. In a 1999 book, Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee recalled his first meeting with Nelson: '[P]erhaps the greatest treat of the summer [of 1992 was to finally meet] Ted Nelson…We talked about all manner of things.'
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
(inquire for price)
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
