I always enjoyed reading the magazines and special book editions from my parent's collection.

After college and during my first duty assignment in Europe I decided to join the NGS in 1978.

Sometime in the late '80's my aunt was moving and needed to find a home for her collection. This took my collection back to the early 60’s, and thus began my slow trek into becoming a real life collector.

In the mid '90's I began to expand my collection backward, as well as develop a second bound collection. This is when I really began to learn how much I didn’t know about the history of the National Geographic Magazine. It is truly a full-time hobby of refining, learning and adding, and can be all-consuming if you let it. I eventually narrowed my focus to just the magazines with accompanying supplements and indexes – and I still consider myself a novice NGM collector.

Like most avid collectors, I have ended up with a lot of "extra" magazines and a few extra bound volumes, as well as many extra cumulative Index reference volumes.

I have a complete extra set of magazines from the mid-teens to the late '90's, most in very good condition. Beginning with 1925 to the mid '90's I actually have multiple sets of extras. I have a small number of extras beginning with 1896 to the mid-teens, most in good condition, some in poor condition with separated covers, etc. All of these extras are stored on shelves (in archival covers if older than 1920) in a humidity controlled basement.

I have, as yet, made no attempt to sell any of my extras. I would, however, entertain any discussions for their acquisition.

I joined this east coast group because I live in Massachusetts. I Have been collecting National geographics since I joined the society back in 1961 at the age of 16  After college I became a school teacher and ran the school library . I  donated all my Geographics to the library at that time. Later the school had so many Geographics donated that we had to get rid of most of them. Those

geographics became the base of my collection. Through E-Bay, Amazon. and groups like Craigs list and this group I have a large collection of Geographics from the 1880's to the present.

As I was a History major in college, I have enjoyed reading all my geographics.

I have also  found a special  enjoyment in specializing in Geographic map & picture suppliments. I now have  every suppliment from 1905 to the present. I even have a few maps from the 1890's. These early maps are hard to find and are expensive to buy.

I really enjoy everything about national geographics and I enjoy reading the daily posts in this Nat Geo Collectors corner. The people here are an interesting group.I hope to continue to interact with many of these fellow Geographic collectors.

Finally I would like to mention something about my doubles in magazines and maps. I have hundreds of duplicate maps, pics, and magazines back to the 1900's. I also need many issues back there also. If any collector wants to trade early maps and /or magazines let me know through this group.

Philip,

Good to have you in our group - welcome!

The earliest dated “extra” map in my collection is the October 1906 supplement,” Location of the Panama Canal,” still attached to the inside of the magazine’s front cover. From there we have to move forward to the picture supplement of June 1911 before I start picking up additional “extras.” I have extras for about half of all the supplements published between 1911 through 1939. Beginning with 1940 I have extras for just about every supplement published up to the year 2000.

As far as trading goes, my magazine requirements are fairly steep as I’m trying to fill holes in my collection from 1904 and earlier – 59 vacancies in all.

However, we are talking of extras and there are many other ways to negotiate trades, i.e. I also collect the annual and cumulative indexes (and the supplements published for these cumulative indexes) and I dabble with collecting the separate Map Indexes published by the society. In other words, I have an open mind to any discussions/suggestions you might have.

I look forward to hearing from you and did enjoy your published map collection series on this site a few months ago.

Regards,

Mel

Mel,

My extra's of map suppliments is very similar to yours. My doubles also begin with the June 1911 Rockies pic and covers most of the suppliments to the present.I dont seem to have as many as you.List of All My National Geographic Maps & Suppliments .ods I am enclosing an excel file of my suppliments (which makes a good  checkoff  list of suppliments) I have only one index, the 1888-1988 one.

I am planning on publishing pics (not thumbnails like the ones I published before) of all suppliments from 1888 to around 1971. After 1971 the maps become too "illustrated" for my classic thinking mind.

Phil

Greeting to all from a newbie.  Not as a collector but to this group.  I first started collecting NatGeos around 1970, and started my subscription in the early 1980s. By last July, I had 497 issues plus 124 duplicates.  I donated my dups to my wife's school and started to actively build my collection on eBay.

By targeting by decade I purchased in bulk, sometimes by year, but usually in batches.  I'd then fill in the holes by purchasing individual issues.  At times, my spreadsheet  which I used to track my issues looked like a Jackson Pollack painting.  By buying batches, I factored in some overlap and just donated an additional 67 duplicates to a fundraiser for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. (Happy Earth Day)

As I was finishing the 1930s I became aware that the earliest issues would be way to expensive for me so I started my second collection: The 1964 Reprints.

As it stands now I have pushed my collection back to June 1908 contiguous and sporatic back to April 1905.  My 84 reprints include all of Vol I & II and sporatic up to Sept. 1907. (notice the overlap).

With me only needing 86 more issues (mostly reprints) the torrent of purchases has dwindled to a trickle.  It has been enjoyable, plus being retired I have time to READ THEM.

Tom  (I go by my middle name)

Nice to have you on board Tom.

About a year ago on eBay there was a nice complete run of the 1964 loose reprints, did you get in on that?

Also, are you only interested in the loose reprints, or are the bound reprints in the offering? I know of two people that have (or at least had) the complete (20 years) bound reprints for sale.

Though you probably already know this, "olpsychom" on ebay, Mike Oliphant on this forum, is a prolific seller of older NG magazines. It might be worth looking him up, both on this forum and his store on eBay, just in case. He might even have stock not yet listed.

Again, good to have you on this forum!

Mel

Mel: Alas, I must have started my eBay search after reprint run, but part of the fun of collecting is the journey.  I have purchased several issues from Mike and will do so again if the opportunity arrises.

Jason: Happy to be here.  Good of you to start the club.  I thought about buying bound volumes but opted for indiviual issues for my collection.

Tom

An interesting "duplicate" reprint you may wish to consider purchasing is the Volume I, No. 1 reprint.

The first reprint of this issue was 1964.

The second, and still available last I checked a little over a year ago through the NGS back issue order for $2.00, is the 1975 reprint.

The only difference is the small printed "75" on the lower right inside quadrant of the back cover to indicate the 1975 reprint.

Most reprints you see on eBay for sale at $9.99 and up are the 1975 reprint, but most sellers do not indicate this one way or the other.

Ask if the “75” is present and if not, by default, it’s the 1964 reprint.

Hi Everybody1

If I didn't need to sell my collection due to medical bills I'd surely would add on to my collection! But if anyone is interested please contact me at dhoppertld@aol.com.

+I'd very much appreciate it.

GOD BLESS
DEANNA HOPPER

Mel,  You seem to be the resident expert, especially in regards to older issues.  Do you have any info on the dimensions of the issues from the late 1890's?  I have 44 reprints from that decade and all are 9 3/4" by 6 3/4" (same as current issues).  I just purchased 2 originals from that time period and they much narrower and a little shorter (9 1/2" by 5 7/8").  Any comments?  -Tom

welcome! And Hello!!!!! mMy Earilest is May 1936.

Tom,

I am far from being the resident expert.

There are many others on the forum that surely know more than I do, they just don't respond as often as I do.

I'm not so sure that's a good thing?!

You should try to get a copy of Edwin C. Buxbaum's, Collector's Guide to The National Geographic Magazine, 3rd edition @ 1971. You'll find just about any answer to any question up to 1971 about the NG Mag, though some errors (mostly small) have been discovered in the 40+ years since its publication.

On page 61 of that guide Buxbaum describes Format 1. 1888-1895 as octavo, 6 X 9 3/4 inches.

On page 64 (reprints) he states: "...The first six volumes in unbound form are a good three-quarters of an inch wider than originals. ..."

You may find his discussion as to the reasons why interesting and informative vis a vis unscrupulous sellers.

Hope this helps!

Mel

Tom,

I just reread your question - and I didn't answer it correctly. Sorry about that!

First, the reprint quote was on page "84" not "64" as I stated.

Second, you asked about "late 1890's" - that's Format 2, not Format 1 as I referenced. However, please note the size of the original Format 2 is the same as Format 1, that is, octavo, 6 X 9 3/4 inches (ref page 63).

Here's a direct quote wrt reprint for Format 2 from Buxbaum's 3rd edition, page 86:

"Format 2, 1896-1899. Covers for these years are a good match in color to the originals and some difficulty might be experienced in differentiating originals from reprints by color alone. The size of the page is larger than the originals. Covers of the reprints are slightly rougher to the finger than covers of originals."

Sorry for the mix-up.

Mel

Mel,  Thanks for the info. I had a feeling that the original were smaller.  I guess it was easier to just do all the reprint in a standard size.  I have 85 1964 reprints spanning the years 1888 thru 1907, from multiple sources, with at least 2 issues from each year (except 1888 obviously). All are the same size as my May 2012 issue.  -Tom

I've been collecting them since the mid 70's.  Have most issues back to 1915, including most of the supplements.  I also have the CD collection, including maps.  Wonderful educational tool, including historical review.

Hey George,

I go by Tom, by the way.  I started my collecting in the '70s as well.  Just gathering scattered issues back to '48.  I started my subscription in the early '80s.  It wasn't until summer 2012 that I actively started collecting older issues to complete my collection.  I have a hybrid, or 'poor man's' collection.  While I have original issues dating back to 1896, most of my older issues are 1964 reprints.  I have 93 individual reprints plus 4 bound volume reprints to cover 10 other individual issues I need.  Not counting those 10 issues, I need 2 issues and 2 maps to complete my collection.

Tom Wilson

Erika, if you weren't all the way up in Boston, I would help you out. I need many issues from 1910 forward. You will find eBay is a pretty easy place to sell individual issues from 1910 to the 1960's. After that, issues just aren't as valuable. You will find the collector to buy an entire collection is very rare. Also, the supplements from 1910 - 1960's are fairly valuable and pretty easy to sell on eBay. You could try CraigsList, however there may be some safety concerns there. I hope that helps.