National Geographic Hardback Special Publications

Add a Comment

6 Comments

Comment by Andy on July 29, 2008 at 9:10am

Hey Paul that was a good two cents worth :) Enjoyed reading your post. Scott my main interest in the NG HC's center around their special publications.I have a special fondness for books and stories that revolve around archaeology/treasure hunting/earth sciences and our American outdoors.Personally I refuse to purchase new anything that the Society or their book division publish as I believe they have priced themselfs out of the market.There seems to be such a glut of NG magazines and very few buyer/collectors that my collecting passion has peaked.

Comment by Scott T. Shier on July 21, 2008 at 3:08pm

TYPO - I meant of course, to address you, Paul. You mentioned Bill and my fingers ran with it!

- Scott

Comment by Scott T. Shier on July 13, 2008 at 12:59am

So, here is a question to toss out. Andy, Bill: from a personal (not collector) point of view, what is your favorite Special Publication title - if you can name 1 or a few!!

Personally I would say the Ocean/Water ones are my favorites..."World Beneath The Sea", + "Undersea Treasures" and "The Ocean Realm".

At this moment I am reading "Journey Across Russia" 1977, and It is as informative as I was hoping it to be - historically and culturally. I've been wanting to beef up my knowledge of Russia and USSR history.

- Scott

Comment by Paul Crist on July 5, 2008 at 1:50pm

Bill Cole has one of the most comprehensive inventories of title and ISBN I have come across and I have shamelessly used his data compilation in inventorying what I have as well as noting what I need to be on the look-out for when trawling used book dealers. I have also toyed with the idea of buying one of the ISBN readers that automatically compile a down-loadable library inventory automatically, though its limitation is it does not permit of additional notes on binding, printing/edition or other variety within one ISBN number.

As someone whose family subscribed to special publications since the series outset in 1966, I have to say they are often more enjoyable reading that Book Service editions (frankly, they were chiefly compilations of individual articles from NGM bound together, so obviously read more like the magazine than a coherent book). I think that observation holds true even for special publications that never had a NGM article on the same topic by the author. Their style through the mid-1990s certainly, was far more prosaic and emphasized illustration over text.

As the divisions' merger and the proliferation of travel, kids, juvenile literature and things that do not jive with either the typical coffee-table tome or the special publications, I have become far more selective in what I order or buy new. I figure the premium for the new edition is not worth it when the secondary market usually gets it in five to ten months and almost always within a year of first release. May not be steeply discounted if still in like-new condition, but you still save shipping and handling which is what bait-and-switch on subscription to new titles took me out of buying from the Society in advance of publication.

Anyway, that's my two cents, and I'd hope Bill Cole and others would join this sub-group, as there are lots of book-related discussions that will be of little or no interest to collectors of just the magazine.

Comment by Andy on June 27, 2008 at 10:31am

I can certainly understand that Scott. My earliest hardback is in the 20's. I wish I could get my hand on a list of all the hardback books that they have published over the years without going through the indexes. ANdy

Comment by Scott T. Shier on June 24, 2008 at 5:54pm

Hi Andy,

Yes, I sort of collect the hardback volumes they make/made. It is hard to know where to draw the line though, especially nowadays! I have alot of the older ones from the 1910's - 1980's. But not much after that.

Of course, there is the Book Service AND the Special Publications. Which ones are you focused on? Somewhere since 1992, I believe, the 2 divisions were combined. Yet, before this, there was a distinction between the 2 running series.

talk with you soon,

Scott S.