Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs sells for $800,000 to Colts owner

August 23, 2021

Apple II manual from 1980 that was personally signed by late Apple founder Steve Jobs sells for nearly $800,000 to Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay

A 41-year-old Apple II computer manual signed by late Apple founder Steve Jobs himself fetched a whopping $800,000 at an auction last week
The buyer of the signed 1980 Apple artifact was Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay
RR Auction, a firm based out of Boston, sold the 1980 manual on Thursday for $787,484
The Apple II proved to be a massive product for the then-struggling computer company, and became one of the first computers made for mass market
The company would eventually go public, offering IPOs in December 1980 – just three years after the release of Apple II

A 41-year-old Apple II computer manual signed by late Apple founder Steve Jobs himself fetched a whopping $800,000 at an auction last week, and the buyer happened to be Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

RR Auction, a firm based out of Boston, sold the 1980 manual on Thursday for $787,484, according to CNN.

The computer’s 196-page manual, which was signed by Jobs and early investor in Apple and the company’s second CEO, Mike Markkula, was dated just three years after the computers release back in 1977.

‘Julian, Your generation is the first to grow up with computers. Go change the world! Steven jobs, 1980,’ a then- 25-year-old Jobs wrote.

The ‘Julian’ in question is Julian Brewer, the son of an former Apple product distributor in the United Kingdom. In a statement announcing the sale, RR Auction stated Jobs and Markkula had signed the manual during a promotional trip to the UK.

Pictured: the signed Apple II manual by Steve Jobs from 1980, which was addressed to ‘Julian’

‘Julian, Your generation is the first to grow up with computers. Go change the world! steven jobs, 1980′ Jobs’ inscription read

Pictured: a different angle of the signed Apple II reference manual, which was sold at auction on Thursday

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., unveils the iCloud storage system at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 in San Francisco, California, on June 6, 2011

‘I was sitting in my bedroom writing games on my Apple II when Dad called me down to meet some guests,’ Brewer said of receiving the manual as a child.

‘To my amazement it was Steve Jobs and Mike Markkula. I had the manual with me and only later understood how rare it was for Jobs to sign anything, let alone to write an inscription like this. He got on well with Dad, so I feel the inscription was made with care.’

The Apple II proved to be a monumental product for the then-struggling computer company, and became one of the first computers made for the consumer market.

The second generation hardware also became a hit in the business sector, after VisiCalc, a computer spreadsheet, was coded for the Apple II back in 1979.

‘Whereas the Apple I was primarily for hobbyists, with less than 200 units made, the Apple II truly ‘changed the world’ by giving around 6 million homes and businesses their first taste of personal computing,’ RR Auction said.

‘Apple II’s revenues supported Apple’s successful floatation, the biggest tech IPO of the time.’

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay (pictured) was the one to purchase the signed manual for nearly $800,000

Pictured: Jobs gracing the cover of the inaugural issue of the MacWorld magazine, also signed by the late Apple founder, was also up for auction by RR Auction and was bought for $201,021

The Apple II (pictured) proved to be a monumental product for the then-struggling computer company, and became one of the first computers made for the consumer market in 1977

The company would eventually go public, offering IPOs in December 1980 – just three years after the release of Apple II.

Meanwhile, the winning bidder revealed what the manual meant for him after paying nearly $1 million for it.

‘When we think of the greatest, most innovative minds of the past two centuries, Steve Jobs must certainly be included among them,’ Irsay wrote in a statement to RR Auction.

‘Jobs was a truly transformative figure who changed the way in which human beings think, do business and interact on a daily basis.’

The three most expensive auction items were the Steve Jobs signed Apple II manual, a Jobs signed typed letter that went for $479,939, and an Apple I computer that fetched $464,876.

The inaugural 1984 issue of the MacWorld magazine, also signed by the late Apple founder, was also up for auction by RR Auction and was bought for $201,021 after 33 bids, according to the auction house website.

Meanwhile, Jobs’ original business card went for $12,905, and his NeXT bomber jacket went for just $3,110, according to the news outlet.

Portrait of American businessmen and engineers Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak (pictured) co-founders of Apple Computer

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