APPLE COMPUTER INC. Apple II Super Serial Card. Installation and Operating Manual.

Cupertino, California: Apple Computer Inc., 1981. First edition. .pp. 129 (including index). Quarto. Original publisher’s illustrated card covers, spiral-bound as issued. A very good, clean copy. Light handling wear and minor spotting to covers; internally fresh and complete. Firm in the binding. A well-preserved example of a fragile and often heavily used technical manual.

An early and increasingly collectible piece of Apple II documentation, issued for the Super Serial Card—one of the most important expansion cards for the Apple II platform, enabling communication with printers, modems, and other peripherals.

Produced during Apple’s formative period, this manual reflects the transition of computing from hobbyist experimentation to structured personal and business use. The inclusion of firmware listings, command structures, and hardware configuration tables provides a vivid insight into early user interaction with personal computing systems.

Such manuals were typically discarded, updated, or heavily annotated in use, making surviving examples—particularly in clean, complete condition—surprisingly scarce. They are now recognised as key artefacts in the history of computing and are increasingly sought by collectors of early Apple material and technology ephemera.

The Apple II Super Serial Card (SSC), introduced in 1980, became a standard interface for serial communication and played a crucial role in expanding the machine’s practical applications in business and education.
Apple documentation from this early period was produced in relatively small runs and seldom preserved, as manuals were considered expendable working tools.
There is growing institutional and private collector interest in early Apple material, particularly items connected with the Apple II ecosystem, which laid the foundation for the personal computing revolution.

[WR Tech]