Tonight I decided that it was time to share a little about the oldest National Geographic that I have in my collection. This issue is a recent acquisition. I have only been adding the most recent issues to my collection in the past few years, but when I found a few very old issues at a book store recently I decided that I couldn’t pass them up.

Previously my oldest issue had been from the early 1920’s, so it was interesting to find some that were older. The magazine began publication in 1888, so there are much older issues than this one.

I found this one last month and have been patiently waiting until it was 100 years old. In June 1915, The National Geographic Magazine had articles about Frontier Cities of Italy and Venice. The magazine has many beautiful black and white pictures from Italy, and I really enjoyed flipping through the pages and looking at them.

In comparison, the June 2015 National Geographic cover shows a marijuana leaf and the lead article is Weed: The New Science of Marijuana.

The magazine was originally from a high school library, and I am fairly positive that the extra binding was added by the librarian. The other early issues I picked up are from the same library and all have the binding. I just wish that they had made the binding narrower so that I could see more of the ad that is on the back cover of the magazine.

The ad is for Waterman’s Fountain Pens and I really like the simplicity of the art work in the ad.

I looked through the June 2015 issue and there are no ads for pens 🙂 The back cover of the magazine is an ad for Energizer batteries.

I really like this ad for the Packard I-35 Phaeton. This is a really cool looking touring car and I really like the description that is given.

There was also an ad for a 1916 Hudson Road Cruiser. You could buy one for $1350.

Tires were also popular with ads for Goodyear, Firestone and Republic tires.

In the June 2015 issue the only car ad is for a 2015 Camry.

I also found it interesting that the Wells Fargo Bank had an ad in the magazine. Today we do not think much about Travelers Checks, but at one time they were very popular. Today most travelers carry credit cards or are able to use their ATM cards almost anywhere they go. At the time this would have been a very good ad placement for Wells Fargo as the readers of The National Geographic Magazine would have been frequent travelers, or at least would dream about traveling.

There were a few other interesting comparisons in ads. In 1915 ANSCO Camers had an ad and in 2015 there is an ad by Cannon. In 1915 there was an ad for Gruen watches and in 2015 an ad for Stauer watches. What I found interesting is that the Gruen watches from 1915 sold for a higher price than the Stauer watches today and that is without any adjustment for inflation.

It is always interesting to pick up an old National Geographic and look at a slice of time.

Steven