Incredibly rare Apple-1 Operation Manual goes to auction

by Jonny Evans · Published February 21, 2022 · Updated February 21, 2022

This was the revolution in the valley

An extremely rare original Apple-1 Operation Manual from 1976 that was purchased at a flea market ten years later in 1986 has just been made available for auction. It’s one of just 175 such manuals ever printed worldwide. The last time one of these incredibly rare Apple collectibles emerged it sold for just under $13,000.

What is for sale?

The Apple-1 was the computer some say kick-started the PC industry. The first computer Apple ever made, it was created by co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a garage. Just 200 of these were ever made, but only around 175 sold – and only 65 or so examples are thought to exist worldwide.

Apple-1 was originally intended to be sold as a bare circuit board to be sold to electronics hobbyists who could then complete these machines. The initial market for the product being Palo Alto’s Homebrew Computer Club. However, Jobs approached Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, who agreed to purchase 50 machines, but only if they came assembled.

Original full Apple-1 machines are therefore incredibly rare. They now trade for around a million dollars or more at auction, which means the manual is the next best thing for serious tech collectors.

What’s for sale is a 12-page manual in fine condition with a faint stain to the left edge of the font cover. It’s a superior example of its type, as it has no notation, no stapling and was never hole-punched, which means it’s in perfect condition.

In immaculate condition, one of c.65 such manuals in existence

What’s the manual about?

The manual boasts Apple’s original logo on the front cover, designed by third Apple co-founder Ron Wayne. That logo shows Isaac Newton sitting deep in thought beneath an apple tree.

Inside the manual you’ll find information on getting an Apple-1 running, how to use it and how to expand it.

rare as can be

The publication includes an impressive fold-out schematic of the Apple-1 computer. It also has a page headed “6502 Hex Monitor Listing,” for an innovative memory program devised by Steve Wozniak which is commonly called the ‘Woz Monitor.’

How did this manual emerge?

I’ve spoken to the person who is auctioning the manual. They told me how they ended up with it, saying: “I bought it on a flea market in Germany in 1986 and had it lying in a drawer ever since…”

This valuable piece of computer history has been quietly waiting to be re-discovered ever since.

“I was just enrolling to study computer science in 1986, and had just got a Macintosh as payment for a programming job that I did,” the vendor told me. “I learned on an Apple II before that, and was soldering boards before that. So when I saw an early Apple manual on that flea market, I was fascinated.”

He also reflects on the pace of change. “I always thought it is such a sign of the times that the “user manual” essentially consists of a print-out of the ROM and the circuit board diagrams. Different expectations of the “user” in those days,” he said.