Retrogaming brochure, software catalogue & poster collection – Part 1

In addition to my hardware and software collections I also have an extensive collection of retrogaming related printed material. As you might expect with me, it mainly deals with Sinclair products from the late 70s / early 80s but I also have piles of brochures, leaflets and other informational material from right across the range of machines from the early period of home computing. Sometimes if you can’t own a piece of hardware or software the next best thing is to own something which either advertised it or gave details of the product. I feel that all too often this material has been consigned to the bin without a thought for its historical importance and hence some of the leaflets, brochures and catalogues I own are now quite rare. Many I collected years ago before the current ‘boom’ in nostalgia and so didn’t cost much, often only a pound or two, sometimes given away. The same material can now be found fetching double figures or more on online auction sites.

Click on images to enlarge.

Atari software catalogues from 1981/82.
From left to right. Top Row: Atari Game Catalogue (1981) Rev. A, 1981 Rev. C, 1981 Rev. D, 1980 Rev. D. Bottom Row: 1982 Rev. B, 1982 Rev. 2, Atari Service Booklet, Master Game Score Book
3rd party game manufacturers software catalogues
From left to right. Top row: Activision 1983 Rev. C, Activision 1981, Imagic 1982. Bottom row: Activision 1983 Rev. B, CBS Electronics 1982, Telegames (UK) 1982.
Inside the leaflets
Leaflets opened up. Top to bottom: Activision, Imagic, CBS, Activision, Telegames.
Activison titles
Some classic Activision titles from 1982/3.
Grandstand handhelds/tabletop games
The Grandstand tabletop game lineup.
Silica Shop leaflets circa 1983.
Anyone remember the Silica Shop? These leaflets date from 1983.
Colour Genie brochure
Colour Genie brochure from 1982. Another home computer that never quite made it big.
Colour Genie brochure
And inside… information about the Colour Genie and its peripherals.
TRS-80 brochure
The great TRS-80 range of computers if you could afford one…
Like I said, check out those prices!
Atari 600/800 XL brochure
Atari 600/800 XL brochure from 1983. Much underrated machines ahead of their time.
Atari peripherals
Atari peripherals: Touch tablet, Trakball, Joysticks and Pro controllers.

Commodore 64 brochure
Commodore 64 brochure from 1982 extolling the virtues of the C64 in business, at home and in education. Yeah, right. Education…
Commodore 64 brochure
A technical run-down of the C64 hardware.
C64 software catalogues
Commodore 64 software catalogues from VICSoft and TyneSoft.
Inside the VICSoft catalogue
Classic game cartridges from the VICSoft range.
Inside the TyneSoft catalogue
Not so classic games from the TyneSoft range…
Dragon 32 brochure
The big hunk of beige that was the Welsh-built Dragon 32. With a keyboard guaranteed for 20 million key-depressions. Oh yes, really.
Dragon 32 brochure
The technical specifications of the Dragon 32.
Commodore 128 brochure
One of my latest acquisitions; a Commodore 128 brochure from 1985. This brochure outlines the fact the 128 could be run in 3 modes, 64K, 128K and CP/M (for business use).

Commodore 128 peripherals

Acorn Archimedes brochure
Acorn needed a 1990s replacement for the then aging 1980s BBC range of computers for education. Archimedes was their answer. Brochure dates from 1987.

Acorn Archimedes brochure

Click here for more retro gaming brochures, posters and adverts in Part 2

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