Re: Map Endpapers!

Bill wrote:
They said it just like that in the book listing: "Map endpapers!"

That got me thinking, does anyone buy a book that they would not
otherwise buy, simply because, while perusing the volume, they found
the map endpapers appealing? How significant are map endpapers,
really? Does any collector deliberately seek out and acquire books
because they have map endpapers?

I have long appreciated map endpapers but have not really considered
them essential parts of book manufacture. Upon reflection, it is
clear
enough that there is in fact a wide range of styles in this fairly
common book feature, from the basic sort which look rather like
they have been lifted from an old Rand McNally, to the truly creative
and even artistic ones.

Among my personal artistic favorites are the map endpapers by
Witold Gordon in the Garden City Publishing Company edition of
"TheTravels of Marco Polo" translated by Manuel Komroff. While
Gordon took artistic license in his rendering, he does show
Marco's route in a clear and understandable manner., while
presenting the reader with an intriguing illustration.

I find it interesting when a publisher puts different map
endpapers on the front and back of a book. Among other things,
these do seem to suggest that the publisher is not a penny-pincher,
since no doubt having different endpapers on the front and back
would increase costs. A Houghton Mifflin edition of Hanry Bamford
Parkes' "A History of Mexico" has a nice little hand-drawn map of
Mexico on the front enpapers and a Mexico City area map on the
back endpapers The maps are black and white and fairly basic,
but drawn in a way easily accessible to readers who might ask
themselves things like, "Now where is this city in respect to
Durango," etc. They can flip to the endpapers and find out.

While map endpapers range from the "basic but helpful"
to creations of impressive artistry as found in the above-
mentioned edition of Marco Polo, they are invariably
interesting, at least to me. Even so, I am not quite ready
to grant that they are significant enough to merit being
followed by an exclamation point in a book listing.

Do any readers to rec.collecting.books have thoughts
to share on endpapers, including perhaps some favorites
they might like to mention?

[Memo from the upstairs office]

I am currently reading Peter Matthiessen's "Killing Mister Watson" trilogy (almost finished the second volume, "Lost Man's River") and the endpaper maps are extremely useful. The locale is Lee and Collier counties in the extreme southwest of Florida. In fact, usually when reading anything that is place sensitive, if there is not a map in the book, I find an era appropriate map, from my collection or on the internet, to orient myself.

I think that much of the time when a dealer mentions "map endpapers", he/she is trying to make sure the reader understands which edition is on offer.

Perhaps, the most interesting end map that I have is in _Truce Tent and Fighting Front_ by Walter G. Hermes, from the "U.S. Army in the Korean War" series published by the Office of the Chief of Military History, U. S. Army (1966). At the rear of the book, there are a series of eight individual battle maps bound into the book at the outside rear edge. Below that there is a pocket containing a large 9th map that unfolds to about 4 ft x 3 ft in size, showing the whole of Korea in the early 50s. This occupies a lot of space, obviously, so there are about four signatures of cancels so that the book can close flat.

--
Francis A. Miniter

ως ουκ αν αιων' εκμαθοις βροτων, πριν αν
θανη τις, ουτε ει χρηστος ουτ’ ει τω κακος.
.

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