national geographic making of america and canada plastic coated maps

[stephen zamarin]

hi,
i am looking for the plastic coated (tyvek) sales versions of the making of america historical map series that was published between 1982 and 1988 there were 17 maps in total. i am also looking for the rolled sales versions which i believe were plastic coated of the making of canada historical map series. there were 6 maps issued between 1991 and 1997.

thanks,
steve
[e-mail]

[Paul Crist]

I can offer at least one printing of the Close-Up USA series, but good luck trying to get the Making of America or the Making of Canada Series as the non-supplement, laminated versions of those were educational offerings that were very expensive, and while I have one Making of America rolled, I have never seen a set (complete or partial) ever listed on an auction or otherwise offered. About three years ago, there was an eBay seller who obviously bought overstock from NGStore and was listing the rolled maps (both America and Canada, among virtually all other titles), for about 95% of the Society's original asking price. I do not know if they are still trading.

If you locate a source at something under $25 (really I am willing to fork over about $10) per map, let me know as I would love to get a set of both Canada and America laminaed, never folded.

One other thing, while I am unclear on details, there were "amends" to a second issue of the rolled Making of America series as the supplements and the original rolled had some undisclosed errors. Any of the rolled with errors would be truly valuable as they were probably a very limited number.

I have never bee able to tell if the single rolled, laminated Making of America I have is one of the ones that has some later-corrected error

Paul
Houston

[stephen zamarin]

paul,

thank you for your reply. i know the southwest and northern approaches making of america map supplements had mistakes on the paper maps that were issued with the magazines. the southwest's mistake was hulapai peak in arizona is that it was listed as 8,566 meters instead of 2,566 meters. the northern approaches mistake was labrador city was colored as a french speaking section when it was actually an english speaking section. as far as i know that southwest mistake was corrected only on the guide maps to us history that came as a bonus if you had ordered the deluxe edition of the historical atlas of the united states in 1988. unfortunately, the guide maps didn't have the historical side of the maps, only the geopolitical side of them. i have been collecting for 20 years and had been a member of the society since 1990. during that time i came across a price list that had listed the making of america series as plastic folded only. around 1993, i had finally got around to order the making of america maps but by then they were out of print. i didn't think they would have been pulled that quickly because that series was very popular. i wish they had offered them as a set like they did the close up maps. as for the making of canada series, i know that quebec british columbia and atlantic canada were sold but i'm not certain about the prairie provinces ontario and the north. which map do you own of this series?

steve

[Paul Crist]

Steve, I have the BC and I believe they did laminate Ontario, but do not remember seeing any inventory or price list for Nunuvaat or A-S-M. These are the kind of arcania that only the truly OC care about, but are in fact what establishes the uniqueness of collections.

[stephen zamarin]

paul,

as i was re-reading the posts. another thought occured to me. were the 4 close-up canada maps ever sold by the society like the making of america series were?

steve

[Paul Crist]

So far as I am aware, that never materialized. I think cartography planned to do a Canadian series boxed or at least with accompanying material, but the numbers never justified going forward with it. So far as I am aware, there was never an index prepared for the Canadian series.

Again, as with World and other stuff for kids, creative side had all kinds of good intentions, some dying before demo mock up, some after, and a very few test marketed (some of the rarest collectibles) but ultimately never developed. I once had a list of a few dozen items that had died between drafting table and production, but that was on a hard drive that died long ago