Sold For $275
*Includes Buyers Premium
Scarce lot of four early Macintosh course binders and training manuals from the personal collection of Ron Fernandez, a former member of Apple’s Creative Services department and senior MacOS product manager for printing, type, and graphics. The lot includes:
- uncommon spiral-bound first edition of Approaching Macintosh: A Guide to Learning Macintosh Software, the first commercial Macintosh textbook, which was published by Addison-Wesley in 1986 and features cover artwork by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed
- rare spiral-bound course manual from 1985 entitled 'Using the Macintosh at Stanford, CS 001c Course Binder #1’
- two ring-bound Apple Creative Services Macintosh training binders, both entitled ‘Techno-Revolutionary Workers of America: Training Manual,’ one of which represents the final version and the other represents Fernandez’s working copy, which bears additional annotated section tabs, highlighted passages, and handwritten notes; the final copy contains a pad of ‘Techno-Revolutionary Workers of America’ stationery
In overall fine condition, with overall wear from use. Per the consignor: ‘I started creating Macintosh training materials and leading classes back in 1984 when the Mac was first introduced…As a Stanford undergrad, I worked with several classmates (led by Michael Tchao, a current Apple VP) to create training materials for the newly introduced computer and to teach a 1-unit class in the Computer Science department. After graduation, these classes were turned into the first commercial Macintosh textbook, Approaching Macintosh, published by Addison-Wesley…
Hired as a traditional product artist in spring 1986, I began to get recognized for my Mac skills… Within a few months, a small, dedicated Mac-based design team coalesced around my manager and mentor, Hugh Dubberly. Carl Stone, Doris Mitsch, and a few others rounded out the nerd group in the nearly 100-person department.
I kept ranting to Hugh that it was ridiculous that Creative Services couldn’t use the computers it was promoting to create promotional materials for those same computers. Finally, in 1988, with Hugh’s support, I got permission to write and teach a series of classes specifically targeted towards Creative Services’ design needs.
I spent several months working 100% of the time to write custom lessons based on the format I had helped develop for Approaching Macintosh, but for new applications such as Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Pagemaker. I scouted locations where classes could be held. I trained my Mac nerd peers to be trainers. I worked with other designers to create the necessary swag—T-shirts, notepads, pens, binders, etc.
And in June/July 1988, Creative Services shut down 100% and the entire department moved off-site for two weeks. Classes were held eight hours a day, five days a week, at the Techmart Center in San Jose. Remember, this was pre-Internet. There were no mobile phones, no way we could be contacted and interrupted. And the rest is history. I was told by multiple Creative Servants that those two weeks were the best work experience or benefit they’d ever received.’
