TAB is an imprint of

McGraw-Hill Education McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

, based in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

, that publishes

do-it-yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

technology books for makers, electronics hobbyists, students, and inventors.

Company

Originally based in

Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania Blue Ridge Summit is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Gettysburg in the central part of the state, adjoining Pennsylvania's southern border with Maryland. It is ...

, TAB was founded by Verne M. Ray and Malcolm Parks Jr. in 1964 to publish technically oriented magazines. TAB is an acronym for Technical Author's Bureau. It became TAB Books Inc. in 1980 and published books in a wide variety of mostly technical fields. It was acquired by

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

in 1990, at which time it published books in 12 fields including computing, electronics, aviation, engineering, maritime, and several how-to subjects, including such diverse titles as ''The Complete Guide to Single Engine Cessnas'', ''The Complete Shortwave Listener's Handbook'', ''Constructing and Maintaining Your Well and Septic System'', ''ABCs of Building Model Railroad Cars'', ''Practical Blacksmithing and Metalworking'', and the ''Encyclopedia of Electronics''. The latter work was named by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

(ALA) in its list of "Best References of the 1980s."

References

Publishing DIY culture Hacker culture Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Book publishing companies based in Pennsylvania 1964 establishments in Pennsylvania 1996 disestablishments in Pennsylvania {{US-publish-company-stub