Steve Jobs Personal Letter, Apple Memorabilia, and More at Bonhams

By February of 1974, Steve Jobs had dropped out of college and was living in a cabin by the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. He penned a letter to his childhood friend Tim Brown. In the letter, he writes about Zen Buddhism and traveling to India for the Kumbh Mela. He ends the letter with a poetic and circular sign-off: “i will end by saying i do not even know where to begin. / shanti / steve jobs.” This letter leads the upcoming History of Science and Technology auction at Bonhams. Jobs rarely wrote personal letters to his friends and family, and this is the first autographed letter by Steve Jobs to ever appear at auction.

A wide selection of books and manuscripts dominates the auction catalog. Notable lots include an anti-vaccine comic strip from 1802 that mocks the use of the cowpox virus to prevent smallpox. Bidders will also find a computer software development agreement by Apple that set the stage for desktop publishing. Other pieces of Apple memorabilia up for bid include the earliest known prototype of the Apple Macintosh computer, a prototype for the first Apple iPad, and complete Apple IIC systems in sealed boxes. There is also a letter written by Wilbur Wright concerning glider construction, notes handwritten by Richard Feynman regarding quark theory, chromogenic color photographs taken during NASA space missions, and more. View any of these lots and register to bid on Bonhams.