World's first telephone guide to go under hammer

Insync

-Staff

By Staff

Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 16:03

World's first telephone guide is set to be auctioned for 20,000 pounds next month.

The only known edition of the directory is a 20-page book containing the names and numbers of 391 subscribers around New Haven, Connecticut, and was issued in 1878, just two years after the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.

The directory, on offer at Christie's in New York on June 17, contains some useful advice for inexperienced callers, the Daily Mail reported.

"Never take the telephone off the hook unless you wish to use it.

While talking, always speak low and distinct, and let the telephone rest lightly against your upper lip, leaving the lower lip and jaw free." Further guidance was available for subscribers, many of whom would have been very nervous about speaking into the new-fangled device.

"Should you wish to speak to another subscriber you should commence the conversation by saying 'Hulloa!'." Callers were not allowed to use the phone for more than three minutes at a time, or more than twice in an hour, without asking for special permission from the "main office." One more word of warning, "Any person using profane or otherwise improper language should be reported at this office immediately." Britain's first directory was believed to have been published the on January 15, 1880 and contained the numbers of 255 subscribers, Daily Mail reported.

Edinburg-born Bell, who moved to America in around 1870, patented the telephone in 1876, defending the patent against Elisha Gray and formed the Bell Telephone Company in 1877.