W9HGO wrote:
I am a new ham interested in CW and would really like to find an
operators manual written before the topic of CW started to be diluted.

Hi,
You might want to look up the QST article "Your Novice Accent",
which appeared in Nov 1956 QST, a reprint of which was once sent
to newly licensed hams by the ARRL. I think it was reprinted
in Dec 1990 QST.

73,
Ed Knobloch