Data tables: From Sumer to VisiCalc

The history of tabular data in 5 beautiful prints — now on my office wall

My office wall (the desk is usually not this tidy!)

I’m a self-proclaimed and proud data nerd. My job is to help users shovel data into Qlik’s software for analysis. My title is VP of Data.

So naturally when it came to decorating the office it had to be about data.

I decided to dig into the history of data tables a bit, and it led me to an interesting book, titled “The History of Mathematical Tables: From Sumer to Spreadsheets”, which is where I got the idea for my wall decorations: Printing notable examples of data tables from the Sumer clay tables (the first known examples of data organized in rows and columns), to a screenshot of VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet software).

The first example is a clay tablet containing one of the earliest known examples of data organized in rows and columns:

Sumer clay tablet (c.a. 2400 B.C.)

It is important to remember that before the time of computers and (automated) calculators, having access to pre-calculated tables could save a lot of time. As a result, there was big business in preparing, printing and selling books containing such tables. Many beautiful examples of such books exist from the latter half of the last millennia. The next three are examples of such calculations as well as some more familiar statistical tables, not unlike the socio-economic data collected today by national statistical offices and international organizations such as the World Bank, UN and OECD:

“A Pocket Book, Containing Severall Choice Collections in Arithmetick, Astronomy, Geometry, Surveying, Dialling, Navigation, Astrology, Geography, Measuring, Gageing” (1677)

“A Million of Facts, of Correct Data, and Elementary Constants, in the Entire Circle of the Sciences, and on All Subjects of Speculation and Practice.” (1840) — that’s a mouthful!

“Specimens of tables calculated, stereomoulded, and printed by machinery” (1857). These are actually calculated with an automated calculator. No small feat at the time.

And finally VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet software and a major influencer to Apple’s early success in the personal computer industry:

A screenshot from VisiCalc (originally released in 1979)

If you’re interested in printing your own versions of this, you can download a high resolution PDF here, or simply order the ones I created directly from VistaPrint:

• Sumer clay table
• A Pocket Book, Containing Severall Choice Collections in Arithmetick, Astronomy, Geometry, Surveying, Dialling, Navigation, Astrology, Geography, Measuring, Gageing
• A Million of Facts, of Correct Data, and Elementary Constants, in the Entire Circle of the Sciences, and on All Subjects of Speculation and Practice.
• Specimens of tables calculated, stereomoulded, and printed by machinery
• VisiCalc screenshot