03.31.08
Historic manuals, part four
Today’s list gives you a smattering of the oldest extant handbooks on the following topics:
History of manuals, part three
The earliest known references to handbooks appear in literary works such as Plato’s Dialogues, according to Slaves In The New Testament, by James Albert Harrill.
03.30.08
Historic manuals, part two
Here, courtesy of Google, are the world’s oldest known manuals in several categories:
Oldest known manual on . . .
Historic manuals, part one
In my continuing quest to find the world’s oldest known manual (this quest started today, by the way), I have come across a reprint of the Manual of the Baratero, an anonymous 1849 tract on knife-fighting in 19th Century Spain. Sounds like it could be good fodder for the next Johnny Depp movie.
03.03.08
The good old days
Jay Leno waxes nostalgic for the owners manuals of yore in this 2006 article in Popular Mechanics:
I miss those old-style owner’s manuals that told you how to do maintenance and repairs . . . .
