A British Variation to an Article Reprint

[George Thomas Wilson]

A British Variation to an Article Reprint

Since Gagarin back in 1961, I have been a Space buff (you could say a Space geek).  With the Artimis I mission wrapping up its stay around the Moon, I thought I'd write a little about a recent acquisition I made related to its forebearer.  It is easy to see that early in my collecting of National Geographics, some of my favorite issues through the years have been the Space related ones.  Once I had assembled my collection, I started several auxiliary collections, one of which being that of Article Reprints.  Again, Article Reprints related to Space have a special place in my heart.  I even posted a discussion about my Article Reprints about Space HERE.  One of my favorite Reprint is that of the December 1969 Apollo 11 Moon Flight.  I do not have one of the originals back in the day, but I did receive one as part of a 50th anniversary package produced by The Society and documented so well by Scott Shier HERE.

The original reprint is documented in Roger E Nathan's book "Collectibles of the National Geographic Society" (1982).  Since I do not have a copy from 50 years ago, I can only guess as to its cover.  It is probable the same as mine, since it is a cover story, the anniversary issue used the magazine cover as its own.  The standard cover for Article Reprints at the time was the classic Globe, Map, and Sextant shown here:

Notice the white space in this template.  It has room not only for a title, but also the author, the month and year of the original issue, and a descriptive subheading.  But, as I said, my cover is the same as the magazine the articles were lifted from:

If any collector out there has an original, I would like to ask three questions.  The first being: Which cover was used?  Also, the anniversary issue does not include the Record which came embedded in the article.  Instead, it has the "Sounds of Space" on a USB drive and played on a miniature "old time radio".  So, since the older version did not come as part of a kit, I pose question two: Does the older Article Reprint contain the flexible two-sided record?  The last query I have relates to the back cover of the original Article Reprint.  Article Reprints of the time had a blank back cover, almost without exception.  The one included in the 50th anniversary kit has a photo, taken from the Moon's surface which is not part of the original articles in the magazine.  So, is the back cover blank, or does it look like this?

After that long introduction, I now want to discuss my latest addition to my Article Reprint collection, a 50th anniversary Apollo 11 Article Reprint from the UK.  I guess I should list this as a foreign item, but I like to think of it as an Article Reprint cover variant.  While it uses the same cover in almost all respects, the British version has a different red-on-yellow banner across its top.  It reads: "Listen to the Sounds of Space - WWW.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/MOONLANDING " instead of the American banner which reads: "Special Recording: "Sounds of the Space Age" (page 750)".  That banner directing the reader to the website for the sounds since the record is absent from this version of the Reprint as well.  Here is my UK version:

Interestingly, the British version has a different back cover.  It has an advertisement with the same photo used on the front as a background, as shown here:

Anyway, that is it for now.

Yours in collecting,

Tom Wilson

[Scott T. Shier]

Tom,

Great discussion, and I appreciate you sharing a 'personal' aspect and details of your collecting passion.

I remember chatting with you in July 2019 about the 50th moon-landing anniversary. Say, did you ever end up getting one of the Nat Geo Channel 50th anniversary promo kits?  . . . or just the article reprint (2019) itself? That U.K. copy of the same reprint is interesting. I have 2 comments about it specifically:  1) that link to "sounds of" should certainly have been on the U.S. version as well ; and, 2) the link itself is now inactive with an "Ooops The page you have requested could not be found." message on it when you click or type it directly. 

RE: #2 above: and this is why I am usually chagrinned with resources being relegated to links in lieu of printed - e.g., there is ZERO permanence . . . no likely availability "for future reference" accessibility. 

I have a question too, was that link to "Listen to the Sounds of Space" a link to what was on the actual 1969 mini-LP (Dec. 1969 NGM), or I wonder if it was the same audio that was included on the 2019 USB "moon" flash drive? 

Anyway, congrats on your newest acquisition. Also, I wish I had all those "space" NGM article reprints myself! (I have 3 of them I think, one came w/ the corresponding NGM map supplement too - Mars). 

- - Scott

P>S>

And while on the topic of Nat Geo space material, I have always cherished those classic illustrations by Charles Bittinger!

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/space/2019/01/how-humans-imagi...

[George Thomas Wilson]

Scott,

I only typed what was in the banner; NING converted it to a link, a dead one at that.  As to the "Sounds" question, your guess is as good as mine.  And yes, I did get the 50th anniversary kit: book, "radio," and all after you posted your album.

It's times like these when I miss Jeff Persons the most.  He would have been able to answer all of my question, and more.

[Scott T. Shier]

I'm thrilled you have promo kit  : - )