PDP-11 Zork Manual: Save $2,348.31
by Jason Scott on Nov.30, 2008, under Interactive Fiction, Text Adventure History
The winner of the the Zork PDP-11 Manual auction I mentioned a couple entries ago has been kind (and astoundingly generous) and has donated a PDF of a scanned version of the manual they bought. They paid $2,348.31, and you pay zero.
Zork PDP-11 Manual PDF (1.3mb)
To recap, this is a manual for the PDP-11 version of Zork. It came on a diskette (a rather large diskette) and was actually sold. This version predates the TRS-80 version sold by Personal Software, and the general tale is that less than 100 copies were sold.
This version is autographed by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, and Joel Berez.
The manual, even without the magnetic media, holds a whole host of interesting points within it. It had to explain, to a commercial audience, both the process of installing the software and the pointers for interacting with a text adventure, which at the time was a pretty new idea. Reading it, you’ll either get perspective or nostalgia about that time.
Infocom at this point was a PO Box and some big plans, but had no office space, hence the address.
The donor wishes to remain anonymous. Thank you, donor.
December 1st, 2008 on 1:35 am
Yes, many thanks!
December 3rd, 2008 on 9:55 am
Thanks from Brazil, anonymous donor!
December 3rd, 2008 on 11:12 am
It is great to see someone have such a die-hard desire to preserve such precious text-based artifacts. Bravo.
January 13th, 2009 on 6:54 pm
I’ve only just stumbled on GetLamp. But to the donor, thank you. May your twisty little passages never be completely alike.
January 14th, 2009 on 10:42 am
Thought you might find this interesting: http://www.legendsofzork.com/
April 24th, 2009 on 6:55 pm
Thanks! What a great find.