This is a blog documenting sales and personal purchases of vintage Thomas Brothers atlases.
The oldest atlas in my collection is a 1959 San Diego Thomas Guide which I purchased at an antique store for $44.00.
Thomas atlases from the 50s and 60s seem to be rare, especially for San Diego County. At this point, I am only interested in purchasing San Diego maps, covering the areas where I grew up.
Hello,
I work for the Thomas Guide/Rand McNally. Loved your site. I’m trying to determine the year of the oldest San Diego Thomas Guide. I see 1954 mentioned by you. Do you know if there are older versions and if so, what is the year? You would think I/we should know the answer but I don’t
Thanks for any help. Christine Krueger, Sr. Project Manager, Quality Assurance.
A few years back, I emailed Rand McNally about their archive of Thomas Guides, and they told me it was donated to U.C.L.A.
The 1954 San Diego atlas (I think it was 1954) I viewed is located in the California Room of the Downtown San Diego public library.
Thanks for writing, Christine. I appreciate the kind words. Maybe I should update this blog a little more often.
I apologize if this isn’t the appropriate place to post this, but I don’t see any other way to contact you.
Can you tell me where I can get a Thomas Bros. map dated and appraised? I have a 35¢ fold-out map of “Vallejo and Chabot Terrace, California”, but there are no copyright or other dates on it. It lists Oakland, SF and LA offices, so I know it’s post-1940, the addresses are “Oakland 12″, “Los Angeles 39″, etc., so I know it’s 1943-63, and the phone numbers are listed as “NOrmandy 3-9247″, etc. (although this doesn’t really help narrow the year.) I’ve tried dating landmarks on the map (there is an airport shown that closed sometime after 1954), but the best estimate I can come up with is late-1950′s-ish, and I have no idea of it’s value.
Any information you can provide or pointers to someone that can would be appreciated.
Thanks for the comment, Arleigh. I am sending you an email.