More Musings on Map Indices

[George Thomas Wilson]

More Musings on Map Indices

 

Their History at the ‘Corner

 

One of the first discussions posted in Philip Riviere’s “Maps and Supplement” group was one entitled “Inventory list of Map Indexes” and was posted on August 24, 2012 by Melvin De Vilbiss.  The list he posted was based, in part, on Roger E. Nathan’s “Collectables of the National Geographic Society.” It was part of the inspiration for me to start collecting these items.  His post can be found HERE.

The next discussion posted to help evolve a list of map indices was posted by me on March 29, 2014.  I posted it after purchasing some map indices from John B. Carey, a dealer here at the ‘Corner.  Among the items I purchases were two dated well after Nathan’s book was published.  Armed with those booklets, and an inflated ego, I penned the missive, “Post-Nathan Map Indexes.”  In it, I wrote a history of the map indices from their beginnings in World War I, thought their golden age, and finally, their decline and end in 1990.  I tried to create a “complete” list of map indices.  My list held up for one month.  On April 29, the same year, Dale Murphy posted a series of replies which included comments about his collection and an incredible list of map indices that he credited to Bill Cole.  That list included several types of cover and other variants of map indices, and several unheard-of reissues of maps in the late fifties to the mid-sixties.  I will touch on the variants and go into more on the re-issues later.  You can find my discussion, with Dale’s list, HERE

Less than a year later, on February 2, 2015, Jeffrey Persons posted a discussion he simply called “Map Indexes.”  In it and its comments, he documented numerous additions to the list provided by Dale, both variants and reissues.  His discussion can be found HERE.

The next discussion, posted on June 28, 2018, included my thoughts on “National Geographic Map Index Variants.”  In it I discussed the three flavors of map index variants, and included Dale’s ones from original list, additions brought to my attention by Mel De Vilbiss, and some finds of my own.  Regrettably, I forgot to include the additions made by Jeff Persons in the last discussion mentioned.  You can find my post HERE.

The last discussion listed here, posted December 23, 2022, is entitled “A Visual Presentation of Map Indices.”  It was an excuse to show off my map index collection for which I had just posted cover images in an album here at the ‘Corner.  In it, I made a call for images of the covers to the map indices not in my collection.  I limited it to supplement map indices, ignoring reissues.  You can find this discussion HERE.

Prior to that last post, I had augmented my collection by buying one sold in bulk.  That action filled in a few that were missing in my main collection and gave me a chance to add to my new, secondary collection with low-hanging fruit as they cropped up.  Before I had a chance to find and purchase many, our fearless leader, Richard Kennedy sold me a few dozen extras from his collection.  That added a few more to my primary collection and filled out my second collection nicely.

Since that last post, I have not seen or purchased many map indices – two in 2023, and one so far in 2025.  Ironically, all three were added to my primary collection, and none to my secondary one.  I had also made bids on a 1918 “Western Theater of War” and a 1921 “New Europe.”  I was outbid badly in each case.  The 1918 map index went for over $1,000, while the 1921 index sold for an astounding $3,000 plus.  On the bright side, I was able to capture an image of the cover to the 1921 index to add to my photo album.

 

More on Map Index Variants

 

First, I like to discuss the Bottom Right Banner on the Covers of the “Classic” indices, the ones with the shaded globes (from 1929 to 1958).  To start with, one must consider the cost of each index, since it was in the bottom right banner where the price was published.  Starting with the first index, 1918 “Western Theater of War,” had no price posted on its plain cover.  The second map index, 1921 “New Europe,” had “50 CENTS THE COPY” listed on its plain cover.  The third map index, 1929 “Europe and the Near East,” is the first yellow-border index with banners along the bottom borders.  All the bottom left banners read “COPYRIGHT 19xx” with xx completing the year (29 to 58).  The bottom right banner on the 1929 index reads “50c THE COPY,” the same price as the prior index.  The fourth map index, 1933 “United States” has “25c THE COPY’ in its bottom right banner, halving the price per index.  This price held until (at least) 1944.  The last index I have is 1944 “Germany and Its Approaches.”  Before I go further, I want to mention the publication method for these indexes, unlike The Magazine, which printed millions of copies all at once each month, map indexes were printed in small batches over years, as needed.  From 1933 to 1944, the price per index held at 25 cents, but, with the World War II and inflation, it was decided, probably by the 1944 “Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands” map index that, together with a price increase, the lower right banner would contain “WASHINGTON, D. C.”  The map indexes that were still in print, in all likelihood, switched over to the new banner text thus creating the variants for at least seven, probably more map indices.  The “WASHINGTON, D. C.” banner lasted until the 1958 “Central Europe” Revision.  After that, the covers lost the globe, and the banners in their bottom border were both blank.

Changing topics, next I want to muse a bit about the map indices who have Uncolored Globes on the cover.  I have ten of these variants and I know of at least five others.  There are probably many more.  The main thing I want to discuss is WHEN they where printed.  They are definitely a reprinting of some type.  I think this occurred, as late as the 1960s.  Besides the globe on the cover, these indexes are made of poor-quality material.  Their pages are thicker and of a coarse paper that browns with age, unlike the glossy paper used in the original map index.  One clue that points to the 1960s is the fact that two of the re-issued map indices from the ‘60s which Jim Persons listed had uncolored globes on the cover.  [More on re-issued indices later.]  While the shaded globe covers stopped in 1958; the last known uncolored globe before Jim’s two finds was the 1954 “California” index.  Those dates are the earliest time frame for the uncolored globe indices production, if they were indeed produced as some kind of batch.  One last hint that the uncolored globe indices were a later creation is the 1939 “Central Europe and the Mediterranean” uncolored globe variant.  While the original, shaded globe cover has the “25c THE COPY” banner, the uncolored variant has the post-mid-1940s “WASHINGTON, D. C.” in its banner.

 

Reissues, Revisions, and Reprints, Oh My

 

In 1958, the cartography department of The Society shifted its strategy from printing stand-alone maps to producing a series of related maps, called the Altas Series.  They sold members an oversized album in which to keep the maps.  These maps had the usual number/letter grid along their edges, but individual indexes were not printed for them.  Once the series was complete, they even sold an oversize index covering all the Atlas map.  This was a Build-an-Index project for the members.  With the Atlas project lasting into 1968, with very few non-Atlas supplement maps printed over that time, there was a dearth of map indices – at least according to Nathan.  He documented three, one of which was the last map before the last Atlas map.  He also listed four revisions of previous supplement maps and a unique, non-supplement index.  That was only eight indices in an eleven-year span.  Fortunately, there were more.  The cartography department produced numerous reissues of past supplement maps during that time.  These reissues included revisions of previous supplement maps, and, possibly, reprints of those maps.  The numbers produced were apparently small, because they seem extremely rare, except for the ones Nathan noted, which appear to be more numerous, but still scarce.

Using three of the revisions which Nathan noted, I will briefly discuss the different cover styles used on the map indexes during the Atlas era.  As mentioned before, the 1958 “Central Europe including the Balkan States” was (probably) the last index to use the classic shaded globe on the cover.  That cover, in two flavors – globe up top or globe in the middle – were used continuously from 1929 to 1958.

Sometime shortly after that first index to a revision of a previous supplement map the switch was made to a plain white cover, within the yellow borders, of course.  Minus the shaded globe, these indices are less attractive.  The banners along the bottom border were also blanked out, and remained empty through this brief run.  The change had to have been made by the 1961 “USSR” non-supplement map, which uses this cover template.  This cover style continued at least until the 1965 “World” supplement map index, which is the only supplement index to use that “plain Jane” look.  During that time, the popular 1962 “Land of the Bible Today” revision was produced.

By 1967, the cover to the map indices underwent a radical update.  Instead of a sterile remnant of the old index style, the new covers were overly busy.  The cover was solid yellow; an image of the map spanned the top, with its name above on the right; the index title with info appeared in the middle; and a small cover image of either the National Geographic to which the supplement belonged or a cover that was somehow appropriate.  The last few revisions that were produced used this cover style; the last being the 1968 “Classic Land of the Mediterranean.” While the reissues were coming to an end, the Society began producing supplement map indices again.  That lasted until 1976.  By that time, the Society was only producing U. S. and World indices, in pairs about every three years.  But that is another story.

 

A Map and Its Index are Soon Parted

 

The biggest drawback to an index of a revision, as opposed to one for a supplement map is that, once the map is gone, it is next to impossible to truly replace it.  With supplement maps, there are millions of maps in circulation to replace one missing.  With revisions, one can substitute the original supplement map which was revised.  For the sole non-supplement map there is no map out there to substitute.  My experiences with revised and non-supplement maps are spotty.  Of the 1958 and the 1968 indices, I only have one copy each and they did not come with the revised maps, and I have had no luck finding those maps.  They each have substitute, original maps.  Of the 1962 index, I have two copies and each has their revised maps included.  As for the 1961 non-supplement map index, I have two, neither came with a map, but I was able to find one, so, at least in my primary collection, I have a set.

A list of map indices from the “Atlas Era” of which I am aware is as follows.  Note: unless otherwise notated, all indices are reissues and mentioned by Dale or Jeff.  (* Reported by Nathan.)

• 1958 “Central Europe including the Balkan States” *
• 1958 “Canada, Alaska, and Greenland”
• 1961 “Countries of the Caribbean”
• 1961 “USSR” (Non-Supplement) *
• 1962 “British Isles”
• 1962 “Classical Lands of the Mediterranean”
• 1962 “Western Europe”
• 1962 “Pacific Ocean”
• 1962 “Lands of the Bible Today” *
• 1962 “Canada Alaska and Greenland”
• 1963 “Historic Map of the US”
• 1963 “Mexico and Central America”
• 1963 “California”
• 1965 “Southeast Asia”
• 1965 “World” (Supplement) *
• 1966 “Western Europe”
• 1967 “Historic Map of the US”
• 1967 “World” *
• 1967 “Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand” (Supplement) *
• 1967 “Lands of the Bible Today” (Supplement) *
• 1968 “Classical Lands of the Mediterranean” *

I cannot end my discussion of reissued map indices without sampling the other white meat in the reissue deli: the revisions of maps during the waning years of map index production, when The Society only produced map indices for their maps of the world and of the U. S.  The last non-World/non-US map index was that for the 1971 Asia/Peoples of Mainland Southeast Asia supplement map.  The next map index was not until the 1975 World Political/Physical index followed by the 1976 United States/Portrait U. S. A. index.  Alternating pairs of revisions and new supplement map indices were produced roughly every three years.  Nathan notes that the 1975 World index was revised in 1978 and the 1976 U. S. index was revised in 1980.  In 1981 a new world supplement map was produced.  It was two-sided, World/World Ocean Floor.  It was followed in 1982 by the United States/America’s Federal Lands.  Here ends Nathan’s book.

In 1984, The Society issued a revision of the World/World Ocean Floor index.  I know this because I have a copy.  And there is an extremely high probability that a United States/America’s Federal Land revision followed suit in 1985.  In 1988, besides the double index produced for The Society’s centennial, an individual World/Endangered Earth index was printed.  This was followed in 1990 with an index of United States/Territorial Growth of the USA.  That was the last map index produced (as far as I know).  There was some speculation that there might have been a USA index around 1988 and the 1990 one is a revision.  And if that was the case, a World index revision around 1990 was also produced.  I am of the opinion that those two items do not exists, but I have been wrong before.  Of this last chapter of map index production played out, the style of the cove shifted again away from the busy cover, back to a plain cover (brown for the World and blue for the US), and had the index printed in landscape instead of portrait mode.  Of the six supplement indices in this group, I have all but the 1975 World Political Physical index.  Of the four revisions produced in this era, I only have the one I mentioned above.  It came with no revised map so I have the original supplement map with it.  If by some chance the 1990 US index is a revision, then, alas, I only have an original map with it as well.

 

Number 93

 

This brings us to 2025.  Robert Choquette has been liquidating his late father’s collection for a while.  I even bought a few article reprints from him a few months back.  In July, he started auctioning off his dad’s map indices.  There had been a dry spell in the sale of map indexes, on eBay, Abes Books, and Amazon the past few years.  As mentioned before, I found only two which I needed in 2023 and none in 2024.  I had high hopes of picking off some low-hanging fruit for my secondary collection.  Unfortunately, in the four batches he released in July and August, none of them matched the ones I needed.  One of the map indexes he was selling, the 1953 Historical Map of the United States, did not have the correct cover.  Instead of the shaded globe cover, it had a newer, busy cover, solid yellow with map at the top, text in the middle, and a small image of a National Geographic cover at the bottom.  Further images showed the copyright was 1967, matching one of the “Atlas Era” revisions which Dale brought to my attention so many years ago.  With Robert advertising this as a 1953 index, I knew that the map was an original 1953 supplement, which seems to be their curse.  I won a bidding war; someone else saw this for what it was.

The article shipped from Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, and quickly got to Los Angeles, but, for some reason, it was intercepted by U. S. Customs, who held it for a week.  It arrived after two weeks, at no fault the Robert, eBay, or the Post Office.  The wait was worth it.  The map, as expected was from 1953, but the index describes the revised, 1967 map in detail.  This is the 93^rd index in my primary collection (not counting the ten uncolored globes I have).  Like the 1953 index, this 25-page booklet has two indices.  The first is an “Index to Notes on Historical Map of the United States.”  That is followed by an “Index to Historical Map of the United States.”  The cover states that the index comes “with notes and 3,529 place names.”  Since this index is not for a supplement, The Magazine cover displayed at the bottom of the index cover is not linked to the map.  The cover chosen is from the January 1964 issue with the Capitol Dome lit up at night, an appropriate image for the Historical United States.

 

And the Word for Today Is…

 

Luck is probability, taken personally.  After a week of enjoying my new addition, I thought of the one positive experience of finding a matching map, the 1961 USSR map I found after I had acquired its index.  So, I search eBay for maps from 1967.  After just 20 seconds of scrolling, I found what I was looking for.  In Pamela Carol’s Vintage Boutique in Cameron, a small town in northwestern Wisconsin, was a 1967 US Historical Map.  I immediately purchase it.  It arrived the same week.  The first thing I noticed was the difference in the map titles between 1953 and 1967.

The change was quite obvious, and equally necessary.  In 1953, the map was of the entire United States.  The 1967 map, covering the same area was not – Alaska and Hawaii are missing.  To resolve this dilemma, an adjective was added to the title.  That adjective is “Conterminous.”  The definition reads “sharing a common boundary,” and the example given, ironically, reads “the 48 conterminous United States.”  There was also a change to the editor between 1953 and 1967.  Supplement maps in the 1950’s have citations of The Magazine issues in which the supplements appeared, usually in the upper left corner.  The 1953 map had one, but with no issue to link to, the 1967 upper left corner is blank.

Likewise, the 1953 map legend lists the month and year of the map, June 1953.  The 1967 map legend just lists the year, 1967.  There is, however, an additional note which explains how I was able to find the map so easily.  The note reads “Printed specially for National Geographic’s AMERICA’S HISTORYLANDS.”  Nathan lists this book on page 77 of his collectors’ guide and states 150,000 copies were printed for the 1967 edition.

With 150,000 extra copies floating around, finding this map was not the miracle I thought it was, but still, this is my first non-Nathan, “Atlas Era,” map index and I have the map to go with it.  I am a happy camper.

 

My Worksheet of Map Indices

 

To manage my dual map index collection, I have developed a worksheet that has evolved over time to what I am presenting here.  I use the standard columns: Number, Index Year, Map Year, Map Month, and Title which most map index lists use, but instead of listing variants as separate indices, I have columns to denote, and in the case of uncolored globes, count them.  I have columns 1, 2, and 3+ to tally my collection.  If I have the index, I place a “1,” if not I leave it blank.  This allows me tally them.  I column 3+ I could put any number, if I have extras.  The next column is labeled UG for uncolored globe.  In it, I tally these variants in my collection.  I also use this column to document additional uncolored globe variants of which I know exist but do not possess.  I simply place a “0” in the column instead.  The next column is labeled “Var.”  In it, I document (not tally) the different variants other than the uncolored globes, including the cover variants and the back-page variants.  I use a letter code: “a” and “b” for cover variants and “c” and “d” for back-page variants.  The next column is labeled “Pic” and documents the cover photographs of map indices I have posted here at the ‘Corner.  Since photo albums are limited to 100, I do not include any variants.  I have posted all my collection plus images of the first and second map indexes, which I do not yet have.  With each cover I have attached a photo of its map in the comments.  If there are any uncolored globes or other variants associated with the map index, I also attach an image of it in the comments.  The last column, labeled “Note,” is self-explanatory.  I have attached the worksheet to this discussion.

Standard supplement map indices are listed in black (95 of those); reissues of map indices (either reprints or revisions) are listed in red (21 so far); and the sole non-supplement map index is listed in blue (1 and only).  This gives a total of 117 map indices.  I omitted the 1940 Southwestern US map index which Nathan mistakenly listed – it has no letter/number grid so it could not be indexed.  The only supplement map with a letter/number grid but no map index is the 1921 Asia map.  Would that not be an outstanding find, if only it existed.  An explanation of the whole reprint/revision thing is based on my skeptical approach used in creating this list.  I listed it as a revision if either Nathan stated it was or, if an index Nathan missed, he listed a map revision that could be used by said index.  I only list it as a reprint it there is no documented map to go with it.  A major disclaimer about this nomenclature is that, personally, I feel that they are all revisions.  It just seems silly to make a new map index for an old map.  If you were going to do a reprint, you would want the index to be duplicated as closely as possible, but with an identifying difference.  That is why I feel the true reprints out there are the uncolored globes.  Another big disclaimer is the fact that there may be more “Atlas Era” indices that I have missed.

Thank you all for listening to my ramblings.

 

Yours in collecting,

Tom Wilson

 

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Well done, Tom!