We sometimes have questions along the lines of when did a certain edition of IEE Regs. come into effect. The relatively recent 15th and 16th editions are fairly well known, but earlier issue dates are not so widely known.
I've posted a list in the Technical Reference area which shows all issue dates from 1882 through to the first metric edition in 1970.
I imagine they were quite short. It would certainly be interesting to get hold of a copy of one of the very early editions, but I've never come across one.
