A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer is both the subtitle of the novel and the title of the book Lord Finkle-McGraw commissions. For Finkle-McGraw and Hackworth, the Primer initially symbolizes the grit and creative thinking that distinguished founding neo-Victorians from contemporary neo-Victorians, whose educational experiences have made them complacent. The first Primer that Finkle-McGraw creates is also an object that reflects the extraordinary financial resources that neo-Victorian elites have. The interior of the book, packed with both advanced nanotechnology and old human narratives and archetypes, is a typical neo-Victorian effort to repackage old ways of being in new, nanotechnological forms; in the same way, the neo-Victorians have tried to package old imperialism in the Common Economic Protocol, which allows them to dominate other phyles.

Hackworth creates a bootleg Primer. For him, an artifex who has advanced as far as he can, the Primer represents his aspiration to rise in class and to help Fiona to as well. Getting the Primer requires theft and trickery. When Hackworth’s theft becomes known to his superiors, the book becomes much like other technology in New Atlantis—a means of controlling people. Nell is the only character who successfully uses the Primer to move up in the highly stratified society under the Common Economic Protocol.