[TUHS] Perfect Binding Spotted on Odd System V 1982 Manual

[segaloco via TUHS]

On Saturday, February 21st, 2026 at 07:48, ron minnich via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:

> there is a funny thing if you can find manuals ca 1984, when the great bell
> system breakup occurred.
> 
> Manuals I got around that time from ATT had a sticker over the Bell System
> logo. Evidently as part of the
> final breakup, ATT lost the right to use the logo; that went with the seven
> baby bells. The manuals
> were either printed before the decision came down, and had to be
> retrofitted; or were delivered from stock, requiring the coverup.
> 
> ron
> 
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 11:07 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> > Spotted and purchased this interesting manual on eBay this evening:
> >
> > https://www.ebay.com/itm/406711470034
> >
> > This is a UNIX System V User's Manual, or so the cover says.  The cover
> > page inside then says Release 5.0 and June 1982, but no notice about
> > internal use only.  There is no Western Electric logotype at all on the
> > front cover, whereas other covers I've seen have retained the text but
> > dropped the Bell System logo due to divestiture.
> >
> > All in all this has properties between that of the June 1982 and January
> > 1983 manuals, and furthermore the perfect binding is odd.  In any case,
> > when received I'll flip through to see if there are any major
> > differences worth noting.  If nothing else, this shows that there may be
> > other manuals from the initial release floating around out there in
> > different binding formats.
> >
> > - Matt G.
> >
> 

Got this in the mail today.  Flipping through it really is a weird
intermediate between the manuals labelled Release 5.0 vs System V.  On
the cover it says System V and has had the Western Electric branding
fully removed.  However, internally the copyright is granted to BTL, not
WECo like the manuals actually outright labeled System V.  To top it all
off, the select code for the document given on the cover is 301-925.
All System V labeled User's Manuals I've seen before are 301-905, with
301-925 being instead the Release 5.0 labeled volume.

So all in all, this is closest to the Release 5.0 rather than System V
manual but has the latter's characteristics of the name "System V" and
diminishment or elimination of Western Electric branding from the cover.

Of course there is then just the oddball fact of it being perfect bound.
The cover is of high glossy quality and doesn't appear to have breaks,
so I suspect this was legitimately produced rather than someone chopping
up and gluing together a comb-bound version.

Here is a photo of all three: https://imgur.com/XJwrjLk

Of note, slight variations in text alignment indicate all three covers
are from separate masters, note the alignment of the grid pattern with
the UNIX text on Release 5.0 vs the two System V volumes.  Also note the
document select code in the bottom right, and where the vertical orange
line crosses the "Trademark of Bell Laboratories" text.  Finally, the
grid lines came out both thicker and brighter on the perfect-bound
volume.

Anywho, would certainly be interested if anyone recalls the timeline
on this, because I keep finding slight cover variations on this 5.0/V
timeframe and am starting to wonder how many different cover variations
were actually shipped.  I can at least name the following areas of
variety:

- "system" vs. "operating system" for the UNIX System text
- Branding as WECo logotype with Bell, without Bell, and without logo altogether
- 301-925 vs 301-905 select code (with ISS. 1 vs Issue 1 text)
- Release 5.0 vs System V
- White comb binding with title on spine, black comb binding with no text, perfect binding with no text
- Discrepancy between cover page and title page re: Release 5.0 vs System V
- Various shifting around of the grid alignment in the background

Quite an interesting amount of variety in this one specific release.

- Matt G.