Volume I Title Page Anomaly (original versus reprint):

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

It matters not if you have bound or loose reprints – you do not have a Title Page for Volume I.

This was a purposeful omission by the NGS when they did the 1964 reproduction of the first 18 volumes.

Why?

The Volume I Title Page was part of the combined Volume I & II Contents, Illustrations and Index listing that was published as Volume II, No. 5.

In the original, this issue begins with the Volume II Title Page followed by the combined Vol. I & II Contents and Illustrations as pages i through viii.

Then the text (announcements, rules, membership lists, etc.) follows on pages 287 through 334 immediately followed by the combined Volume I & II Index on pages 335 through 339. The Index is followed by 5 blank pages (2 ½ double sides) and then the Volume I Title Page and Officers listing as pages i through ii, followed by four blank pages (2 double sides).

As only the original of this issue existed (e.g. the 1922 reprint of Vol. I, Nos 2 & 4 was used for the 1964 reproduction) at the time of the 1964 reproduction, I can only assume the NGS did not bother to reproduce and collate the Volume I title page for the bound edition.

One can understand this for the bound volume from a logistical point of view (maybe), but why didn’t the NGS reproduce the Title Page in the individual 1964 reproduction of Volume II, No. 5 - no collation required?

This page had to be deliberately discarded in the 1964 reproduction of the individual reprints.

[George Thomas Wilson]

Good to hear from you Mel.  Just a bit of clarification: You state that the Vol. I cover page was part of the Vol II No 5 issue as part of the Vol I & II Contents; and you state that the issue starts with the Vol II cover page, then the Vol I & II Contents.  Where exactly is the the Vol I cover located: immediately after the Vol II cover?  After the Contents?  Just wondering since I only have reprints.

Tom

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Tom,

In the original issue of Volume II, No. 5:

The Volume I Title page (page i) follows 5 blank pages that fall immediately after the last page of the index (page 339). It's obverse (page ii) is the list of Society Officers. It is then followed by four blank pages before the back cover.

This "hanging" page was not replicated in either of the reproductions (bound or individual) of 1964.

Therefore, only if you obtain an individual original Volume II, No. 5 will you ever see a Volume I Title page.

I have an original bound Volume II that only has the front cover of each of the Volume II issues. This Volume I Title page was removed and bound inside the Volume I the dealer was attempting to sell as a complete original volume. When I pointed out the Nos. 2 & 4 in that volume were actually 1922 reprints, he took the book off the market. I never found out what he did with it (and lost the title page for Volume I).

This would be another way you could end up with a Volume I title page, i.e. the page had been removed from its issue and bound with the Volume I issues.

I do have the original individual issue which is how/why I have discovered this omission by the Society.

Of course, this was the very first index published by the Society. They had not yet established a standard.

It is the "only" index that includes more than just one volume (in this case, the first two).

It is the first (with caveat), of only two indexes, that was published in a year other than the year of the volume it references. The second such index was that of Volume 7 (1896) published in February 1897 (Volume 8, No. 2).

The caveat being the obvious, that is at least 1/2 of this index is of Volume II, one of the volumes for which it was published.

[George Thomas Wilson]

Thanks for laying it out for me, Mel.  I just got confused.  (Easy to do.)

As I've stated before, the 1964 reprints messed up the Vol 7 index as well.  My Dec 1896 and Feb 1897 are both reprints, the index is in Dec, not Feb.

Tom

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Tom,

Apparently the 1896 index was important to them - and they placed it in it's proper place.

Or, unbeknownst to us "newer" collectors, perhaps there actually was a publication that did in-fact have it in the December issue - that none of us newbies have ever seen, hence Nathan listed it as being published in the December issue. Why else would he have done that?

Who really knows?

But then, there's the 1900 index that NEVER made it into the 1964 reprints.

One such as myself can easily get wrapped around a tree thinking this out...

Have a good one Tom!

Mel

[George Thomas Wilson]

Mel,

Just out of curiosity, what is the small copyright year listed at the bottom of the Volume I title page?  I can see it being 1889, 1890, or 1891 depending on its actual creation.

Also, is there an electronic copy of this page? I know you have a DVD set of every issue.  Just wondering if this page (and its back) are listed.

Tom

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Technically speaking Tom, these are not copyright dates as the NGS did not copyright until after 1907 (I believe 1908 was the first year of copyright).

At the very least, I know the 18** issues were not copyrighted.

But to answer your question, on both the Volume I title page and list of officer's page (page ii) the date shown is 1889.

The digital version of Volume II, No 5, ends with page 339 (the last page of the index) followed by one blank page and the back cover.

Of note, the digital version also does not collate the issues by volume, rather it shows the issues by month and date of issue, hence, Volume III, No. 1 actually comes before Volume II, No. 5.

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Additional information:

Sadly, the NGS was even less interested in getting it correct with the red brick issues for digitization than they were in 1964 with their reprints.

Example: Not only is the Volume I title page missing from its original position in the Volume II, No. 5, digitized issue, it is nowhere to be found. Additionally, the Volume II title page and combined Volume I & II contents listings, in the original found at the beginning of Volume II, No. 5, immediately behind this issue's cover page, are also omitted (and nowhere to be found).

All of these data points simply edify my original statement that the only way you'll ever see a Volume I title page is if you have a " page complete" original Volume II, No. 5 issue, with the caveat of having a bound Volume I that had this title page removed from its original publication.

[George Thomas Wilson]

Thanks for the info and too bad about the electronic copy or lack thereof.

If you need an electronic copy of the Vol. II cover, I scanned that page from my V2N5 reprint.  Here's the image, feel free to copy it if you need it for any reason.

I thought of a use for it.  By toying around at the pixel level, I came up with this counterfeit Vol. I cover.  I'm sure only someone like you with an original Vol. I cover can tell it's a forgery (besides for the page width which is obviously from a reprint).

Just having a little fun here.  I'm not trying to pass this thing off as real.

Yours in Collecting,

Tom

[Scott T. Shier]

Hrumph. Another thing to be annoyed at. Ha !

As for "The Complete NGM on dvd-rom", I can mention that it may have been more of an oversight in collating & digitizing, or, they were working off the old dissected sets from the 1964 reprints, thus duplicating, perpetuating, and/or compounding the initial (1964) "mistakes". 

There have been instances of glitches, or missing pages or out-of-sequence pages on the "Complete NGM..." and it takes a notification made to the CNG team  --via the NG Store contacts--  to alert them to errors or missing   ______somethings. They have issued numerous 'patches' since the 2008 debut of the CNG product. 

A few days ago I was looking at something, and saw that a photo on a single article page is missing/not installed and now I've already forgot what it was! I should have notated it asap to let them know. OR, check w/ you or another CNG owner to verify if it is a local device glitch or common the CNG data files.

- Scott 

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Thanks for your gentle push Scott (and long time no hear from)...

Here's what I sent in to the digital copy gurus:

"Missing from Volume II, No. 5 is the "Volume I" title page and List of Officers (pages i and ii respectfully).

These pages are also missing from all 1964 reprint versions, either bound or loose issue.

The only way one would know these pages are missing is if they have a copy of the original Volume II, No. 5. In the original, the Volume I title page falls 5 blank pages (2 1/2 double sides) behind the last page of the combined Volume I & II index, page 339.

It would be "amazing" for the NGS to update its digital version to include this [sic] rare pages."

I'll let you know when and if they respond and what they say.

Have a good one!

Mel

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Got a reply - it's been forwarded to the appropriate department....

[Scott T. Shier]

Mel,

...and regarding this last reply noted from 02-July, did you receive further follow-up, and what did they say about this?

Just curious.

 - Scott