Alan M. Turing. by TURING, Sara - 1959

Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd, , 1959. A mother's account of her son's life First edition, first impression, apparently issued in an edition of only 500 copies, and uncommon in the jacket. This biography of the great computer science pioneer sought to establish Turing's credentials without reference to his then still-classified war work. "Written from a mother's viewpoint, Sara provides a unique insight into the early years of Turing, with candid descriptions, anecdotal accounts of Turing's eccentricity and genius, and insights into his science" (Cooper). Sara (1881-1976) maintained that her son's death was an accident and the result of careless handling of chemicals when preparing "non-poisonous weed-killer and sink-cleaner" (p. 115) rather than the inquest's verdict of suicide. Octavo. Original pale green boards, spine and front cover lettered in green. With dust jacket. Photographic portrait frontispiece, 6 photographs on 4 leaves of plates. Spine toned, ends bumped, contents clean; soiling to jacket, shelf-wear to extremities resulting in chips and closed tears, flaps and spine toned, loss to ends affecting lettering at tail, rear spine fold verso expertly repaired with japanese tissue, unclipped: a very good copy in very good jacket. Barry Cooper, "De-coding the Turing family", The Guardian, 17 April 2012, accessible online.