1938 and 1939 Mid-Production Revised Maps

[George Thomas Wilson]

1938 and 1939 Mid-Production Revised Maps

 

As with the July 1989 map of France which I covered in an earlier discussion, Roger Nathan documents two maps of Europe in the leadup to World War II that were modified mid-issue sometime during each production run.  These two maps are the April 1938 map of Europe and the Mediterranean, and the October 1939 map of Central Europe and the Mediterranean.  They both show Germany’s expansion during that time period.

 

Discussing the second of these maps Nathan writes on page 37 of his Collectors Guide:

“The press run for this map was started on August 28, 1939.  Because several plates were needed to complete map press runs (one million for this map), it was normal to make changes in the plates during the press run in order to improve the map.  When the news broke that Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, that change was made and the September 1, 1939 date was used.

Members received only one map.  Early mailings of the October 1939 Geographic included the map dated ‘As of August 28, 1939’ and later mailings included the map dated ‘As of September 1, 1939.’”

 

The 1939 map had a similar situation with the 1989 France map in that there were fewer early versions of the map.  In case of the 1989 map, these early mailings were sent to Canada and the Pacific.  As for the 1939 map there seem to be even fewer of the early editions.  Whether they were mailed overseas or to Canada, Nathan does not say.  All I know is that all four of my copies are the September 1, 1939 variety and that all of the copies on eBay that display a date are the same September version.

 

That was until July 7th when I saw an August 28, 1939 map for sale located in Australia.  I bought it immediately (I know I have a problem).  It arrived on July 22nd.  Here are the relevant portions of my two versions of this map:

 

8/28/39 Title

 

9/1/39 Title

 

8/28/39 Map

 

9/1/39 Map

 

Personally, I don't notice a difference between the two maps, at least in the region specified by Nathan.

As for the April 1938 map, Nathan says very little.  He only states in a continuation of the above entry:

“A similar situation occurred with the April 1938 map supplement.”

And under the map listing itself he states:

“Two versions of this map were issued to members:  One shows Austria as an independent nation.  One shows Austria as part of Germany.”

 

With no further documentation on this map’s press run, I have no way of knowing the ratio between the original and revised versions.  The only thing I could do was check my stock.  I have three copies of the map in my map collection, ALL have Austria as a separate country.  Even Philip Riviere’s image of this map has Austria as separate from Germany.  This sample size is too small to draw any conclusions, but the indication is that, unlike the 1939 and 1989 maps, the original 1938 map is more common than the revised version.  Austria was annexed by Germany on March 12, 1938.  I have no idea where that date falls in the press run.  I’d be interested in knowing what versions of this map others have in their collections.

 

I thought that was it for my search until I remembered that I had a fourth copy of this map that was outside of my map collection.  This one was part of my map index collection.  Without knowing the “chain of custody” of the map and index pair, I didn’t know if this map was the original map for this index or not.  If however it was, the odds were good that it would be from late in the press run, or even from a later limited run.  When I checked the map that came with my map index, it was indeed the revised version with Austria as part of Germany.  And here are the relevant portions of my two versions of this map:

 

2/25/38(?)  with Austria

 

3/12/38 sans Austria

These maps are obviously different.  In the second Austria has become a region of Germany on par with Bavaria.

As always, the enjoyment of collecting is in the journey, and in the discovery.  Yours in collecting.

Tom Wilson

[Scott T. Shier]

Tom, 

It would seem to make sense that the map that would (ostensibly) have come with the Index would be the latter, revised edition. The Map Index booklets were issued after the related map/NGM issue for which they made to correspond. 

Assuming of course the 'chain of custody' was intact on your Index and map. As you say, there's no way to know for certain if that map has been w/ that Index all along. For me, I've swapped them out and around so much, for various reasons over time. 


I actually had both versions of both maps (viz., April '38, Oct. '39) but I swapped and sold the duplicates and extraneous versions a long time ago . . . when I was still forcing myself to limit the scope of my holdings and limit myself to only one copy of . . . anything. (Now, I can't even really relate to that decision or thought process - I'm kicking myself for not having kept the variants for "further study" as you have been doing). 

- Scott