Vintage, Technical, and pre-Book Service N.G.S. books ~ c. 1895 - 1956

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Description

Once upon a time, the Society did not have a formal or structured book department or staff (hard to believe now!) ...

 ...in the early years there were 'accidental' books, either by chance or favor. Some various monographs and myriad scientific reports made their way to publication with hard covers. Essentially, the popular book releases started with 1907's Scenes From Every Land, followed with a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edition (e.g., 1909, 1912, 1918). 

From there, NGS's books were mostly nicely hardbound reprints of either:  A} in-demand articles from NGM , or,  B} were compilation volumes of multiple articles on a common topic --again from NGM itself.

Here n' there, were larger, original works by persons associated with some research or expedition sponsored or supported by the Society.


Such titles that fall within this group's purview would be thus:

  • Book of Monsters,
  • Valley of the 10,000 Smokes,
  • Alaskan Glacier Studies,
  • Physiography of the United States,
  • Book of Birds (pick a version!),
  • Book of Dogs,
  • Indians of North America,
  • Book of Fishes (pick one),
  • Flags of the World, 
  • Hunting Wild Life with Camera & Flashlight,
  • ...and much more!

Best,

   ~ Scott S. 

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  • Scott T. Shier

    Sadly, Buxbaum's last edition was c. 1971, inclusive of 1970 material from NGS, and then that's the cut-off. It would have been really awesome if he had been able to do like a 1989 edition, to cover everything through the Centennial year '88.

    Buxbaum's actual editions were as thus:

    Collecting National Geographic Magazines , 1935 (small quarto s/c, 3k print run) ;

    The Collector's Guide to the National Geographic Magazine , 1956 (slim h/c book, 1k print run) ; 

    The Collector's Guide to the National Geographic Magazine , 1962 (updated, more pages ed. h/c , 1,500 print run) ;

    The Collector's Guide to the National Geographic Magazine , 1971 (enlarged size format, many more pages ; 2,100 print run + 50 special ltd. copies)

    *the last 3 each had sturdy slipcases. 

    Nathan had the 1982 hardcover w/ DJ ; he had an extensive updated database and files  that he was hoping to publish as an updated edition, but that never materialized. He passed in 2005. There is a master file copy of these .docs that Tom is referring to, above. 

    Then, Don Smith:

    National Geographic Magazine: For Collectors

    Vol. 1, No. 1 - 1975

    Vol. 1, No. 2 - 1978

    Vol. 1, No. 3 - 1985 ; revised 1988

    Vol. 1 , No. 4 - 1992

    Vol. II, No. 1 1996 

    These are like 30+-55 page booklets, sized and shape like an NGM. They have soft paper covers, and Mr. Smith did hand illustrations to embellish sections and title pages. The text is is copied from hand type-written pages ; these were not formal published books from a book publisher, that is.

    I had a copy of the 1988 edition but sold it to another collector; I only have the 1996 ed. now. As for Buxbaum, I own the 1935 and 1971 editions, never owned the 1962 ed., and had gifted my 1956 copy to a friend some years back. 

    I can add some pictures of this Don Smith item later (I had a photo & scan file but that was lost).

       ~ Scott

    Jan 26, 2016

  • Scott T. Shier

    also ---->

    http://www.collectorsbluebook.com/collectible_dealer/don-smiths-nat... 

    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/uniontrib/20070812/news_1hs12fi... 

    Jan 26, 2016

  • Scott T. Shier

    Jeff,

    ...here's a few quick images to give you an idea of the 1935 + 1971 editions of E. Buxbaum's NG guides ; also sample images of a Don Smith guide (c. 1996 ed.) : 


    **see the size difference between Buxbaum's 1st book, as compared to the very substantial 4th version of '71.

    **note: you can click on any image to enlarge it.

    Jan 28, 2016