These terms govern your purchase and use of The Forgotten Manual Library and any individual handbook sold on this site. By buying or downloading, you agree to them.
1. Who you are buying from
The books are published by Zyvio Labs ("we", "us"), an entreprise individuelle registered in France under RCS Paris 810 589 408. The publisher's full legal identification is on our Legal notice page. You can reach a person at help@theforgottenmanual.com.
Payment is processed by Stripe through Stripe Managed Payments, under which Stripe acts as merchant of record. Your receipt and your card statement will show Stripe's descriptor, and Stripe calculates, collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST where they apply. Stripe's terms cover the payment itself; these terms cover the books. We never see or store your card details.
2. What you receive
A digital download: a designed PDF and an EPUB of each volume you bought. Delivery is immediate after payment, by a download link sent to the email address used at checkout. There is nothing physical to ship.
The files carry no DRM. You can read them on any device, print them, and keep them indefinitely. If you lose them, email us and we will reissue your link at no charge.
3. Your licence
You get a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the books for your own private and household purposes. That includes printing copies for yourself and your household.
You may not resell, republish, share publicly, upload to file-sharing or AI training services, or distribute the files or substantial extracts from them. The historical documents we cite are largely in the public domain and you are free to seek them out yourself — our research, writing, diagrams, classification and layout are not.
4. Safety — please read this one
These books describe historical methods. Many are no longer safe.
Some of what they document was abandoned for good reason, and one volume exists specifically to record practices that should never be repeated. Where a method is hazardous we describe it non-operationally — as history, not as instructions.
Nothing in these books is professional advice. Do not treat them as guidance on food safety, water potability, electrical work, gas, structural work, chimneys and combustion, firearms, chemicals, or medical matters. Consult a qualified professional and follow current law and codes in your area. You are responsible for what you choose to do.
5. Guarantee and refunds
Our 30-day guarantee is set out in full on the Refund policy page, which forms part of these terms.
6. Accuracy and updates
We research against original documents and cite them so you can check our work. We aim to be accurate and we correct errors when they are found, but we do not warrant that every historical claim is free of error. If you find a mistake, tell us — corrections are issued as free updates to everyone who owns the affected volume in that edition.
Marketing figures such as method counts describe the edition on sale at the time of purchase.
7. Pricing
Prices are shown in US dollars and may change. Launch pricing applies until the date stated on the sales page; after it passes, the regular price applies. Any tax is calculated at checkout by the payment provider.
8. Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising from your purchase is limited to the amount you paid. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss arising from your use of any method described in the books.
Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. If you buy as a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.
9. Changes and governing law
We may update these terms; the version in force is the one published when you buy. These terms are governed by French law. If you are a consumer, you keep the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where you live.
10. Consumer mediation (France)
Write to us first, at help@theforgottenmanual.com. We answer every message, and almost everything is settled that way.
If a complaint has not been resolved within two months, you may take it free of charge to the European Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. Because Stripe acts as merchant of record, Stripe is the seller named on your receipt, and its own complaint channels are open to you as well.
11. Contact
Questions about these terms: help@theforgottenmanual.com.