Volume 1 chronicles six decades of quasar spectroscopy. The book details the nature of the Ly-alpha forest, Lyman limit systems, damped Ly-alpha absorbers, deuterium (D/H), 21-cm absorbers, HI and HeII Reionization, the WHIM, and the multiple ionization phases of metal line absorbers. Galaxies and their connections to these absorbers are treated in depth, as are the taxonomy and classes of AGN/quasar spectra and their associated absorption lines.