NGM, Modern cover varieties

[Jean Thibault]

I have two different covers on July 2004 magazines:

1) Sun burst photo on front cover, Toyota ad on back.
2) Heavily armed female guerilla fighter, presumably columbian, Olympus ad on back.

There are other differences on the covers, and in the front and back ads on or near the covers.
How unusual is this?. Is one of them rare? Are there other examples of totally different front covers on any other (modern) issues?

[Jean Thibault]

Finally managed to include photos of the two July 2004 covers. They are in the photo bank. (Close enough).

[Jean Thibault]

See photo in photo bank

[Scott T. Shier]

Hi Jean (and others),

I found another contemporary cover variance. This is the May 2007 issue. The common cover is the Indian on the Jamestown/America @ 400 cover. Well, through poking around, I found that there is also a version with a pig or hog on the cover. See this link to the article/blog:

http://mrmagazine.wordpress.com/2007/04/

It shows the 2 covers; it also shows the same issue with its India cover version. After I found this I looked over eBay for May 2007 and found ONE copy w/ the lesser known pig/hog cover. I have bought it. (I still cannot find the "Eye" cover for November 2003").


This next link just gives a good re-cap on where the Society is at with its International editions of The Magazine. I think that February 1999 was the beginning of the American newsstand copies of the Magazine.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1001_031001_ngmruss...


~ Scott

[Jean Thibault]

I haven't found the "Eye" cover either yet. Your latest find: the pig and the indian if you notice both have printed bar codes, while India variant seems to sport a sticker type of bar code. So this might make for a total of 5 cover variants...or so...Again, I'm sure I saw the Pig somewhere, probably a newstand, but I didn't "get" it.
If Feb. 1999 is the beginning of American newstand copies, that means that the Nov. 97 english printed bar coded variant I have would be another "edition" (canadian maybe)?
The article on NGM Int'l editions is interesting, but it doesn't help us to figure out the english edition variants, (nor wether these are limited to the covers).
I wonder if it might be possible to order all or any of these variants from the NGS past issues department?
By the way, did you get a look at that bound issue photo that I put in your comments? Might you be able to tell me anything about it? Who done it...earlier or later availability...

[Scott T. Shier]

You are right, they both had bar codes, so there is possibly 4 American cover versions - 2 each, bar coded and un-bar coded.

Calling the NGS line is an idea. I don't know if I should be aggravated that NGM is releasing different covers! Ha-ha. Like I mentioned before, I am especially curious about the reason behind the decision-making on such covers.

I could not find anywhere the definitive date for the 1st American newsstand copies. Something I saw indicated towards February 1999, but it wasn't precise. I don't remember it starting as early as 1997, but maybe it did. I emailed one of the NGS staff requesting that they post that date on their "NGS Timeline" page.

I'll reply separately to the hardbound edition photo you posted in my comments.

- Scott

[Scott T. Shier]

Jean (and everyone else),

I have been keeping an "eye" out for the eye cover on eBay since we bagan talking about this, but not luck yet. I am also monitoring for the guerilla fighter July 2004 cover.


Anyway, here is 2 photos of the May 2007 variants - close-up. I do not quite understand the the "Pig" cover though - how does it convey the story and what is it's value over the Indian cover....


- Scott S.

[Jean Thibault]

The pig was an important new meat source brought to America, the worm was a more harmful import, and tobacco, eventually, its best known export. There you have it: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly!

[Jean Thibault]

Just looking through my duplicates, I found two more cover varieties:

Jan.2006 1) The Grand Canyon (Our Grandest Canyon)
2) Iraq War (Who' s Winning in Iraq)

Apr.2006 1) Quake (The Next Big One)
2) Inside Chernobyl

So I guess that living in Canada (Quebec) gives me a higher probability of finding such variants.

Am trying to get more info from NGS about these cover vars, so far it is not easy.

Again, see photos in my photo bank.

[John Mahoney]

Did anyone get a response to Paul Crist's cover variants list of " I have a list of some dozen others reported." ? Were these english language issues?

Did Paul Crist ever explain his comment, "I have only the 1984 issue changed for Saudis" ? What was changed? Which issue?

I believe there are two variants of the July 2006 issue: Pandas and Under Rome

John Mahoney

[Scott T. Shier]

John,

No, Paul Crist has not yet responded since his initial post. We still await clarification.

I did not yet know about the Under Rome cover for July 2006.


- Scott T. Shier

[Jean Thibault]

Here is a list of the cover variants that I have come up with so far, those in brackets I don't actually have, but I do have photos.

Sept 03 "Child peeking through a curtain", lead: Modern Slavery.
(Nov 03 "The Glaring Eye" Watching you...newstand ed.)
(May 04 "Hanoi, the Soul of Viet Nam")
July 04 Female Guerilla fighter
(Aug 04 :Banjo Patterson & Patagonia)
Dec 04 "What's Destroying the Titanic"
Jan 05 "Hooked" on coffee, different cup
(Aug 05 "The Bomb, sixty years later")
Jan 06 "Who's winninhg in Iraq"
Apr 06 "Inside Chernobyl"
May 06 "The Judas Gospel"
July 06 "Under Rome"
Oct 06 A lake in a Welsh Nat'l Park
Jan 07 Dubai, Waterfront project
Mar 07 "Last Stand" Large title over the same photo as American ed.
May 07 The Pig, newstand ed.& ("India Story")

And I get the impression that there are quite a few more, mostly on english language int'l editions and /or on newstand editions. To date, it has proven very difficult to get a proper list or access to copies of these editions from the NGS.

[Jean Thibault]

A couple more:

(May 04 Europe's Big Gamble)
(Feb 05 Bollywood).