Machine methods of accounting

IBM. Machine methods of accounting: A manual of the basic principles of operation and use of international electric bookkeeping and accounting machines. 23 separately paginated parts plus [8]pp. preliminaries. Text illustrations. New York: International Business Machines Inc., [1936]. 282 x 217 mm. In original cloth pressure binder, "Machine Methods of Accounting" stamped on the front cover over the IBM logo, "The Chase National Bank of the City of New York / Foreign Exchange Department" very faintly stamped at the foot of the front cover. Light wear, a few edges frayed. Very good.

First Edition of this manual issued in 23 separate parts by IBM during the period just before the invention of the electronic computer, when the company dominated the market for punch-card tabulators and other calculating and data-processing machines. "Primarily, this book was written to provide a single volume from which employees of International Business Machines Corporation may thoroughly familiarize themselves with the complete list of bookkeeping and accounting machines manufactured by their Company, and with the operation of such machines of furnishing figure-facts automatically" (p. [6]). The manual is copiously illustrated with photographs and drawings of IBM's accounting machines, punch cards and related equipment, together with images of the company's corporate headquarters and its president, Thomas J. Watson.