The first telephone book.

The first telephone book.

Detail map of New Haven, Connecticut, United States Overview map of New Haven, Connecticut, United States

A: New Haven, Connecticut, United States

The First Telephone Directory, and Later the First Telephone Book, are Published in New Haven, Connecticut

2/21/1878 to 11/1878
The first telephone directory, issued by the New Haven District Telephone Company, the first public telephone company in the world.

The first telephone directory, issued by the New Haven District Telephone Company, the first public telephone company in the world.

On February 21, 1878 the New Haven District Telephone Company issued its first list of subscribers--a broadside listing about 50 subscribers with no telephone numbers included. The University of Connecticut Library copy, one of two surviving, is reproduced here.

In November 1878, the company, by then renamed The Connecticut District Telephone Company of New Haven, Connecticut, issued the world's first telephone book. This telephone directory booklet or pamphlet contained the names and addresses of 391 subscribers who paid $22 per year for service. There were no phone numbers, but there were advertisements and listings of businesses in the back of the book—the first, embryonic "yellow pages." The advertisers included physicians and carriage companies. Customers were limited to three minutes per call, and no more than two calls an hour without permission from the central office.

"Besides rules, the embryonic phone book also featured pages of tips on placing calls — pick up the receiver and tell the operator whom you want — and how to talk on this gadget. Having a real conversation, for example, required rapidly transferring the telephone between mouth and ear.“When you are not speaking, you should be listening,” it says at one point. You should begin by saying, “Hulloa,” and when done talking, the book says, you should say, “That is all.” The other person should respond, “O.K.” Because anybody could be on the line at any time, customers should not pick up the telephone unless they want to make a call, and they should be careful about what others might hear. “Any person using profane or otherwise improper language should be reported at this office immediately.”

(This entry was last revised on 02-21-2018. Thanks to Laura Smith, Archivist at the University of Connecticut Library, for pointing out the existence of the February 1878 directory.)

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