I don't see how your analogy applies. There are, of course, many examples of digitized versions of manuscripts online, some with and some without lengthy explan

I don't see how your analogy applies. There are, of course, many examples of digitized versions of manuscripts online, some with and some without lengthy explanations. Most of these manuscripts require at least as much efforts as Babbage's plans to understand. Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester is the first example that comes to mind as a popular example. Other examples may be found here (http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/08/12/digital-humanities-7-important-digitization-projects/ http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/08/12/digital-hu...). I have no expertise on Babbage whatsoever; yet I would have liked to peruse images of these plans just for the sheer beauty and importance of them. You can't do that with Polish versions of Lem's text.