The only known photographs of Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer, are estimated to sell for up to $162,000 at an upcoming auction.
The rare images are part of Bonhams' "Fine Books, Maps & Manuscripts" online sale in London, U.K. The auction is scheduled for next week, on June 19.
The lot includes three photographs, believed to be the only ones in existence of Lovelace. The estimated price for the photographs ranges from $108,000 to $162,000.
Two portraits were taken by Antoine Claudet, a former pupil of the daguerreotype inventor Louis Daguerre. These were taken around 1843 when Lovelace published her paper on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.
Claudet photographed Lovelace in two different attires, seated in front of the same elaborate painted backdrop of foliage. The lot also includes an anonymous photo of Henry Wyndham Phillips' painting of Lovelace towards the end of her life.
Ada Lovelace, born in 1815, is renowned for writing the first computer program. Her work significantly influenced the development of computing and artificial intelligence, even though the Analytical Engine was never built.