A Redditor recently showed off their grandfather's engineering notebook that dates to the 1930s, and people are fascinated by the vintage find.
The viral Reddit post highlighting the book is titled, "My grandfather died shortly after being drafted for war in 1936. Here's his engineering notebook."
The post, which included four images of the notebook, has 13,100 upvotes since it was posted on March 17 in the subreddit "Mildly Interesting." User @penekotxeneko123 revealed in a comment the war they were referring to was the Spanish Civil War.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Spanish Civil War lasted from July 17, 1936, to March 28, 1939, in Spain. It was a "military revolt against the Republican government" in the country, and the coup by the Nationalists failed to take the whole country. A civil war broke out from there between the Nationalists and the Republicans aided by different groups and countries, and the conflict lasted for years.
Things finally concluded when the Republicans gave up Madrid, and the Nationalists were victorious in taking the country. A rough estimate puts the number of people killed at one million; however, recent estimates say it's more like 500,000 or less.
The original poster shared different images of their grandfather's engineering notebook, which is where an engineer writes down their work on a project.
The first image showed the outer covering of the book dating to the 30s with a worn brown cover that's slightly ripped in places. It has writing on the outer cover as well, and next to it is another bit of paper with drawings.
The rest of the photos revealed different pages of the book, which are all written in Spanish by the OP's grandfather. There are charts, drawings, and equations to go along with the writing, and it's all extremely detailed. The OP's hand kept the pages open for the picture as well.
Over 200 comments came in over the antique engineering notebook, and people seemed to appreciate the find.
Some people assumed the OP's grandfather died in the fighting. "What a waste of a beautiful mind," a Redditor said, to which another person replied, "That's war for ya."
One viewer called the book "absolutely beautiful," admitting they're an engineer and they worked "specifically with electromagnetics earlier in my career. I also have a small collection of old/vintage engineering texts."
Thoughts on war came up as well. "All that knowledge lost, like tears in the rain," a user expressed. "Thanks war."
Others commented on the man's handwriting in particular. "That's amazing!" a Redditor wrote. "As an engineer who loves cursive handwriting, this hits a specific spot for me."
Many viewers had positive comments regarding the engineering notebook such as "Oh that's a treasure," and "This is really satisfying for me. I love stuff like this. This is legacy right there filled with knowledge of unimaginable divinity, chef's kiss."
People think it's an epic find on the OP's part. "Very cool to have something like that," a Redditor explained.
One user thinks it seemed like the Redditor's grandfather was "pretty intelligent and had very nice handwriting," adding, "Shame he had to be yet another casualty of war."
When reached by Newsweek, u/penekotxeneko123 said it's "safe to assume" their grandfather fought for the Republicans.
"The particular notebook I shared covers electricity and magnetism, but there are plenty where that came from," the OP continued. "As some people correctly guessed, my grandpa died on the battlefield, and another brother of his suffered the same fate."
Updated 03/18/2022, 4:32 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comments from Redditor u/penekotxeneko123.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
