60th anniversary of the 1964 "The National Geographic Magazine" REPRINTS project

[Scott T. Shier]

Hello my dear Collector's Corner friends,

Well I did not want to let 2024 completely slip by without making a salute of acknowledgment to the fact that this fall/winter is the 60th anniversary of the not-insignificant effort of the Society in 1964 to reprint the first 20 years' of The National Geographic Magazine. Meaning, 1888 through 1907. 

Due to the phenomenal increase in Society membership by the early 1960's (1963 was the Society & Magazine's 75th anniversary), there was an increase in demand and inquiries as to the availability and/or feasibility of reprinting the scarce and rare early numbers. 

The first inkling of this project showed up as an announcement on the Membership Nomination page of the July 1964 issue of the magazine, seen here below:

As the announcement indicates the membership was at around 4 million, and "as a record of the contemporary life, edited always with a view toward permanency, the Geographic remains a reference source consulted by students and teachers, scholars and travelers."

Continuing . . . "The new program will encourage libraries, schools, and collector-members to fill out their sets from the very first issues."

Though there had been earlier reprints done of certain issues of NGM, this project was of a monumental scale and effort -- and, of much greater availability. In the November 1964 issue of NGM, there is a 2-page article by then-Society Executive VP and Secretary Melvin M. Payne (a future Society President and chairman of the Research & Exploration Committee), where he discusses this project and its importance. 

He notes, "Technicians have spent almost a year on this painstaking  project. They carefully unbound fragile early volumes; then, using the most advanced equipment and techniques, they photographed them page by page to produce by photo effect striking duplicates of the rare original magazines, covers, and all. The reprints will include reproductions of all map supplements and charts -- in color if color was used in the original -- and all the advertising  pages . . . " [which commenced January 1896].

Each cover was to include the word "Reprint" so as not to confuse dealers/collectors, nor deflate the value of the precious originals. 

Remarkably, these reprint copies were going to be for sale to the membership for a mere $2 a piece; and/ or $100! for the first 59 issues (1888-1897), unbound, and the remainder 120 issues, unbound, for 1898-1907 was to go for a sum of $215!

As Melvin Payne notes in the article, and as also discussed in particular on page 15 of Edwin Buxbaum's first book "Collecting National Geographic Magazines" {c. 1935} there were but a 205 or 209 members of the Society to which the original issues were mailed out to. There does lie a discrepancy however, insofar as Mr. Payne indicates that membership did not exceed 1,000 until during 1899, when Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor took control of The Magazine. But, E. Buxbaum shows membership was already at 1,178 as early as 1895. 

Now might be a good moment to recollect the publishing frequency of NGM during those early years. Between October 1888 (vol. 1, no. 1), and 31-Oct-1895 (vol. 6, no.9) there were only 36 issues publshed -- [of those, 1 was only an Index, and 2 were barely more than membership lists]. NGM did not become the monthly journal we know it today until commencing w/ January 1896 (vol 7, no. 1). 

Thus from January 1896 through December 1907, we have 143 issues. Why not 144? (*because the July/August 1897 issue was a combined issue). 

Of note: by the time of 1907, Society membership was hovering in the 11,000 range. 

As Melvin Payne also wrote, the Society was "reproducing only 1,000 copies of each of these early [reprints]". Presumably this meant the individual copies aforementioned already only. But as we collector's and members know, there were also officially produced bound volumes. So how many bound sets were made, and how many full sets of individual issue/copies were out there? 

Our late friend here on the 'Corner, and a prolific collector, Mr. Jeffry Persons, had shared and posted this information here on the the Collector's Corner back on March 9, 2015 ---> 

Total Number of Reprints Published by the National Geographic Society (NGS)

In a letter dated July 13, 1989, signed by Eugenia M. Ryan, Research Correspondence for the NGS, the following 1964 reprint production is summarized:

Individual Issues 

Volumes 1-7 (1888 – 1897) ~ 1,400 copies per issue

+2,000 additional Volume 1, No. 1

Bound Volumes: ~ 1,600

Individual Issues:  Volumes 8-18 (1898 – 1907) ~ 500 copies per issue

Bound Volumes: ~ 1,500

* From this information we can clearly see that there are many more sets of the bound reprints available --even to this day-- than there would be full sets of the individual reprint copies, most particularly for the mere 500 copies/issue for the range 1898-1907. 

** Here is what a set of the bound volumes look like ---> 

They do make an attractive sight on a shelf, I may say (this is my personal set). 

And here is the set of individual reprints (spine sides showing) in my NGS slipcases, which I custom-labeled --->

____________________________________________________

Now, while wanting to keep this discussion focused on the 1964 Reprint Project, there are a couple quick other "reprint" comments I could add here. In 1922 the Society reprinted No.'s 2 + 4 only for Volume 1 (1888-1889). These bore some distinguishing markings that rendered them clearly not as original copies. There were printed 1,000 each.

Notably, in 1975, the Society again reprinted (in the same format as the 1964 reprints), 1,000 copies of Vol. 1, No. 1 (Oct. 1888 issue) -- but with a special identifier on the inside back cover showing a "75" in micro-sized print. 

There are also some other "reprint" variants or types discussed by Buxbaum in his 4 Collector's books, and as well, fellow 'Corner member Melvin De Vilbiss has also identified such in his excellent survey & reviews of valuation of National Geographic magazine collecting, here: 

A Guide to Selling National Geographic Magazines

also see Mel's useful post here:

Total Number of Reprints Published by N.G.S.

*** Also of note: in 2007 there were some unknown qty. of reprints of at least No.'s 2, 3, + 4 for Vol. 1 that were reprinted --perhaps in honor of the upcoming 120th anniversary-- that I am aware of and in possession of. 

All I can add on this note is that on the inside back covers are printed: "www.NationalGeographicArchives.com  Reprint c. 2007"

________________________________________________________

On a personal note, the Reprint sets themselves have become quite an item to collect, both in cost and in availability. They can be as pricey to obtain now as procuring original NGM's used to be back in the 1910's. 

On eBay and elsewhere, you often see sellers posting the bound volumes individually rather than as a set, so it's harder for buyers to build their full set. I have a full set of both myself, the bound set, and the 179-qty. individuals, which were put together back in time by the Nick Koopman, whom many of the older generation of collector's knew of well. 

I do not feel that having the reprints (instead of originals) diminishes my collection in any way whatsoever. To me, I DO possess a full consecutive run of The National Geographic Magazine, if for no other reason than that the 1888-1907 reprints are officially sanctioned, carefully reproduced facsimiles of the originals. 

I am proud of my collection. 

I have scanned every cover of the 179 Reprint Issues, and posted them into 3 photo albums here on the 'Corner this week. From 1888-1907, there were 5 different cover styles, or "formats" as Buxbaum, Roger Nathan, and many others refer to them, here,

And finally, here are the 3 direct links to the Reprint Photo Albums I created --->

1] 1888 - 1895 issues

2] 1896 - 1901 issues

3] 1902 - 1907 issues

And for "fun", my personal photo album collage:

My personal collections of the 1964 Reprint editions

I hope this has been a good, informative trip down the proverbial memory lane. 

Happy New Year and yours in collecting. Sincerely,

~ Scott T. Shier

"To Increase and Diffuse Knowledge . . . while Reporting on the World, and All that is in It"

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Well done Scott!

Mel

[Scott T. Shier]

Here is a link to the December 2014 discussion I posted when it was the 50th anniversary of the Reprint series (I completely forgot writing it and just stumbled upon it tonight). 

Here --->

NGM Reprints -- a 50th anniversary look back . . .

[Paul]

Hi Scott.

Great overviews (2014 and 2024) of the reprints.

One clarification in the 2014 article was in regards to the pricing of the bound volumes. It was indeed $90 for the first set but only $170 for the second set for a total of $260 (not $260 for the 2nd set). I have the original NG correspondence stating the costs. I have a number of original letters from NG advising of the cost reductions, shipping timelines, etc for the reprints as well.

My Great Grandfather was a lifetime NG member (I have his certificate) and he ordered the bound reprints when they were offered. I also have the original shipping statements when they were mailed to him.

Oh ya, I also still have the full bound reprint set in excellent condition if anyone is interested as I would consider selling them as a whole (not as individual bound reprints).

Paul

[Scott T. Shier]

Paul,

Thank you for adding your comments. I must say that is pretty cool you still have your Great Grandfather's set of reprints, especially along with the original paper correspondence. It does seem then that the pricing was a bit different in actuality than the exact figures $ that were indicated in Melvin Payne's article of the time. 

Thank you for the compliment as well. 

best,

Scott S. 

[george warren]

Great effort and super informative Scott!

Thanks,

George.