FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2023-153 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (September 22, 2023) – Today’s edition of Fun with Maps celebrates the first publication date of a historic award-winning magazine that took us all around the world.   

THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD

How did you learn about faraway places, their people, customs and life? How about weird creatures – plants or animals?

I bet many of you answered that you learned about the exotic places, people, and creatures through reading, or at least looking at the pictures in National Geographic Magazine.

National Geographic published its first iconic yellow cover magazine on September 22, 1888.

It has shrunk in circulation from 12 million in the 1980s to today’s 1.8 million in the US.   The information age, less reliance on printed material and possibly the Magazine’s worldview all contributed to the shrinkage.

To many, Africa is the most mysterious continent and therefore many articles were written about Africa with authentic photos going along the articles.  Thus, we present here Levasseur’s map of Africa from 1856 with many iconic sights, animals and plants of the continent displayed on the side panels.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.