BABBAGE had the chance to admire the Apple-1 that had been auctioned off at Christie's in London on November 23rd, and to take some pictures of the Apple's first product (rather appropriately, using the latest iSomething), before it was hauled off to its new owner, an Italian businessman. The machine itself—of which only about 200 were built, and which went for £133,250 (about $210,000), 452 times its original selling price 30 years ago—is not much to write home about, at least if you are not deeply into motherboards.

Much more interesting is the letter from Steve Jobs that came with it. It proves that even Apple's boss can be nice if he wants to:

But what struck me most is a piece of paper with Apple's logo, as it looked in 1976. I always thought that the firm's once colorful apple logo had somehow grown out of the 1960s San Francisco counterculture. Its predecessor is more reminiscent of the pre-digital age.

In fact, the first Apple logo is the work of Ronald Wayne, who some refer to as Apple's third co-founder (besides Mr Jobs and Steve Wozniak). It depicts Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an apple about to fall on his head. The inscription on the logo's border is a quote from William Wordsworth, a romantic English poet: "Newton... a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought... alone." Could it be that Mr Jobs himself is a hidden romantic?