Sotheby's Fine Books and Manuscripts New York | 15 Jun 2012, 10:00 AM | N08864
LOT 57 APPLE I COMPUTER Operational Apple Computer I. An Apple I motherboard, labeled on obverse Apple Computer I, Palo Alto, CA. Copyright 1976. Includes circuit board with four rows A-D, and columns 1-18; MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor, labeled MCS 6502 3776; video terminal; keyboard interface; 8K bytes RAM in 16-pin 4K memory chips; 4 power supplies including 3 capacitors; firmware in PROMS (A1, A2); low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits; breadboard; heatsink; expansion connector; cassette board connector. (15 1/8 x 9 in.; 385 x 234 mm) Together with: Apple I Cassette Interface, labeled Apple I Cassette Interface Copyright 1976, partial "G" lettered in triangle on reverse, in black ink manuscript (4 x 2 in.; 102 x 50 mm). — Apple-I Operation Manual. Palo Alto: Apple Computer Company. 12 pp. in wrappers (11 x 8 1/2 in.; 280 x 214 mm), with 8 circuit diagrams, 2 on foldout printed verso and recto, one full page; with original Apple Computer Co. logo on upper wrapper; tear along fold, light staining on wrapper and bottom right corner. — Apple-I Cassette Interface Manual, Palo Alto: Apple Computer Company. Oblong 8 pp. bifolia (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.; 140 x 215 mm), with some staining to wrappers; original logo on upper wrapper, warranty on lower wrapper — Preliminary Apple BASIC Users Manual. Palo Alto: Apple Computer Company, October 1976. 8 stapled sheets (11 x 8 1/2 in.; 280 x 214 mm), printed verso and recto, with first sheet on blue paper with tear along staple and manuscript "Randy J Suess." Some staining to first and last page, with tear on last page. — Double-sided advertisement with illustration for Apple I Computer and the Apple Cassette Interface, with manuscript note (11 x 8 1/2 in.; 280 x 214 mm).
ESTIMATE 120,000-180,000 USD
CATALOGUE NOTE "The Apple Computer. A truly complete microcomputer system on a single PC board." When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs presented the Apple I Computer to the Homebrew Computer Club in 1976, it was dismissed by everyone but Paul Terrell, the owner of a chain of stores called Byte Shop. Terrell ordered 50 computers for $500 apiece, insisting that the circuit boards come fully assembled rather than as DIY kits similar to the Altair, and Jobs and Woz managed to produce the requisite computers in 30 days. They continued production, immediately creating 50 additional Apple I's to sell to friends and an additional 100 to sell through vendors, at a retail price of $666.66, a number that garnered complaints among conservative Christians, but provided a lucrative 33% markup. As the first ready-made personal computer, the Apple I signaled a new age in which computing became accessible to the masses. The interface of circuitry and software that Woz created enabled users to type letters with "a human- typable keyboard instead of a stupid, cryptic front panel with a bunch of lights and switches," as he explained to the Homebrew Computer Club. Even so, it was sold without a keyboard, monitor, case, or power supply. An exceptionally rare, working example with original Apple cassette interface, operation manuals and a rare BASIC Users' Manual. It is thought that fewer than 50 Apple I Computers survive, with only 6 known to be in working condition.