Really old instructions...?

plasmodium

Ok, so Brickset (understandably enough) doesn't have instructions for the reeeeealy old stuff (like, before the 90's)...does any one know whether there's another place I could find older instructions for older sets (I'm thinking classic space or castle)? (I should say, I'm looking for PDFs or other digital forms) Or am I on a wild goose chase here? (I could probably build some just looking at the pictures, but...)

SpaceCake

Aside from LEGO.com I don't really know what to suggest. Although a lot of the really old instruction manuals sell for pittance on eBay (not so sure about BrickLink!) so it might be worth trying to find a hard copy.

oldtodd33

There is another thread here somewhere for this, but peeron has them and there is also http://www.brickfactory.info/

Pitfall69

Yes, Brick Factory.

starfire2

Did you try peeron ?

plasmodium

Thanks! The Brick Factory site looks like it could be what I'm looking for!
@starfire2, I didn't know Peeron had instructions. I've only used it for the inventories or for finding out about weird bricks!

Istokg

"Reeeeeeealy old stuff".... before the 90s?? I guess it's all a matter of perspective...

plasmodium

@Istokg: I was wondering who would be the first to comment on that! It's because I was really looking for classic Space instructions (ie, 70's), but I wasn't very hopeful about finding anything that old, so I decided to broaden what I was looking for.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Try toysperiod.com, I've had good luck finding instructions there.

madforLEGO

peeron.com usually has links to most older instructions on their site.
Search for the set number and it will show if instructions are available and you can print them out or whatever, they are usually jpeg.

Ernst

Try this site : http://www.brickfactory.info/index.html

Istokg

@plasmodium Folks... I want to say this right here and right now... that when you say "really old instructions".... that is NOT the 1990s!!! lol....

In order to put it into perspective... here are some really old instructions... actually these are from the very first year that separate instructions were produced... 1955 (sorry, but Hieroglyphics and Cuneiform were actually retired by then... and so was papyrus! These are in modern Danish... but not the furniture kind.... ;-)

Note the simplicity... pre-Gutenberg I believe.... (like me!)

plasmodium

If I can put it in perspective, both the 70s and the 50s are matters of decades before I was born, which makes them really old for me! Like I said, I started the sentence thinking 70's and halfway through I decided not to get too hopeful, which was an unfounded fear, as it appears that there are places online which do have stuff even pre-70's. Plus, given that Lego, as a company, is less than a hundred years old, and has been producing actual brick-built sets for only around 60 (I think, yes?) years, something from 40 years ago is about 2/3 of the existence of the Lego brick. Which makes me think of them as, if perhaps not "reeeeeeeealy" old, then at least "rather" old.

plasmodium

Anyway, back on topic (ish), all of those have been very useful/interesting. And thank you for the "history" lesson, @Istokg ;)

drdavewatford

You can link through to many of the "really old instructions" (!) via the Brickset set page, @plasmodium - just go to the page of the set you're looking for, click the "Links" tab and under the "Instructions" heading click "Peeron". They have a huge number over there.,

Oldfan

Thanks! The Brick Factory site looks like it could be what I'm looking for!
@starfire2, I didn't know Peeron had instructions. I've only used it for the inventories or for finding out about weird bricks!

Technically, the instruction part of Peeron is called PICSL ("Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library"), but you just go to peeron.com and click on the PICSL icon in the top-left corner. As Istokg hints, PICSL is not complete for those "really old" instructions, but pretty much everything from the 70's/80's is there (at least, every time I've looked for a specific instruction scan, I found it...).

plasmodium

Does Peeron (sorry, PICSL...) have them as PDFs, or are they a series of pistures like brick factory has?

drdavewatford

^ Individual web pages I think, not PDFs.

Cris_B

@oldtodd33 thanks for the link to BrickFactory just what I was looking for...