Saturday, May 24, 2014

Books and maps are like dear old friends - by Kaye Spencer

In 1976 or thereabouts, I came across two advertisements in the back of a Louis L'Amour novel. You’ve seen them. They all look something like this:

One of the ads was for a set of a Time-Life books about the Old West, and the other ad was for old west maps drawn by Perry C. Van Arsdale. I wanted the entire set of books so badly that I scrimped and saved pennies so I’d have enough saved up to get a money order to buy the next one. Each month, when a new volume arrived, I read it cover-to-cover and back again. They probably cost around $13 each, and I bought them one at a time in a book-of-the-month type situation.

Over the years, I've carted this set of books around throughout my many moves. They’ve made it through a basement flood; a partial house fire; an aquarium slowly leaking on the shelf above them; toddlers with crayons and scissors; and puppies with sharp teeth. ;-) I still rely on them in my writing.

This is an etsy.com image of the complete set, since mine are in storage due to the still-on-hold basement remodel after our flood last fall.

I purchased four Van Arsdale maps in 1978-ish. I don't recall how much they cost at the time, but maybe $10 or so. They, too, have their battle scars, but they're all still in good shape. My four maps are: Pioneer Texas, Pioneer Colorado, Pioneer New Mexico, and Pioneer Arizona. I kept the four maps rolled together and in a mailing tube until 2012. So about 35 years after purchasing, my dad mounted them in frames with protective glass. I cherish these maps even more now, because the framing was the last woodworking my dad did before he died in 2013. 

The pictures below give you somewhat of an idea of the hand-drawn, detailed, historical information they contain: dates of railroads, telegraph and stage lines, stage stops, freight roads, water holes, forts, etc. This map measures 35 inches tall by 28 inches wide (inside the frame). My four maps aren't the same dimensions, but they are similar in size.

Full view Pioneer Texas map
 
Close-up details San Angelo area

 Legend example

I visited the Perry C. Van Arsdale website, and I was so pleased to see the maps are still available for purchase, that I bought three. ;-) Talk about a trip down memory lane. This is the website: http://www.vanarsdalemaps.com/

Back when I bought the set of books and the four maps, I really couldn't afford them. But something urged me to buy them, but not in an impulse purchase sort of way. My commitment for the books was about two years, and I bought the maps one at a time as I could afford them. It was more of a "you need to buy these because you'll use them in your writing someday".

I'd written short stories ever since I was in elementary school, and I wrote my first novel in high school (it has mercifully disappeared it was so terrible). So being a writer/author was something I'd yearned for ever since I can remember. I started writing my first western novel in 1979, originally titled "Epitaph for a Bounty Man", and I finally published it in 2006 as a western romance called "Lonely Places", under my other pen name, A.L. Debran.


In the early years of writing this story, I plotted the character’s travels on my Pioneer Colorado and New Mexico maps, while relying heavily upon the information in the Time-Life books to make sure my details were as accurate as I could make them. Back then, these were my only sources for historical research.

I treasure my Time-Life Old West books and my Van Arsdale maps as I treasure and appreciate my oldest and dearest friends. They've been with me through the clichéd 'thick and thin', and they've never let me down.

Until next time,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com
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20 comments:

  1. I never knew about those maps. Thanks for the tip.

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  2. Frank, You're welcome. The maps contain so much information that there's hardly any unused spaces. Sometimes I use a magnifying glass to localize smaller areas so I'm not so overwhelmed with detail.

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  3. I never knew about them, either, Kaye! Thanks for the link. I can only imagine how precious those frames are that your dad did. I have a set of the Time-LIfe books, too. I found them in a used bookstore, several years ago. The owner wanted to sell them as a set, for $150. I told the lady working there that I would pay $5 each but I didn't want to buy them all--there were some that I knew I wouldn't use. She called the owner and they chatted, and the owner said, "OK, but she has to buy at least 10 of them." HUH? Well, okay. No problem there-- I bought nearly double that! LOL And I'm so glad I did--I had wanted them, like you, since the moment I saw they were coming out with them.
    Cheryl

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    1. Cheryl, While I've read each one of the books in the set, like you, there are several that I've never used for reference. I do love them though. ;-)

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  4. Interesting post, Kaye. I have half a dozen of the Time-Life books and find them extremely useful. And they look good on the shelf and are pleasing to handle with their leather covers.

    Thank you for the information about the Van Arsdale maps. I shall investigate.

    Keith

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    1. Keith, The books do look good on the shelf and the covers add to their reading pleasure. I have several Louis L'Amour books with the leather-like covers <<<another of those order blanks in the back of a book that suckered me in. :-)

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  5. Kaye,

    Great writing! Great article!

    (I've got a bunch of those beautiful books on my shelf too!)

    Charlie

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    1. Charlie, Thank you for the writing and article compliments. It means a lot to me.

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  6. Those books still cost at least $10.00 each at used book stores. I buy one from time to time. I have a about a dozen. Some good stuff in the books.

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    1. Jerry, The photographs/images in the books are priceless. All that visual Old West history in one accessible place has been such a help in my writing.

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  7. Add me to the growing gang who adore Time-Life's The Old West series. (When even the Mad Scotsman owns a few, you know they're valuable research material. ;-) ) My mom and dad bought the entire set when it came out in the '70s, and I was quickest on the draw when it came to settling my mother's estate a few years ago. (Actually, she specifically left them to me because she practically had to lock them up when they were new to keep me from wearing out the pages. :-D )

    That map resource is priceless, Kaye! Thank you so much for the link. I'm going to have to invest in several of those, frame them, and decorate the walls in my writing space. You have an extra-special reason to cherish yours. It's those seemingly little things that bring back the strongest memories, isn't it? :-)

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    1. Kathleen, I'm doing my little happy dance because the three van Arsdale maps I ordered arrived today. And, yes, the ones my dad framed are so special to me. Maybe I'll try my hand at making frames for my new maps. My mom kept my dad's woodworking tools and the pieces of old barn wood that were left over from some of his projects. Hmmm... maybe, just maybe. ;-)

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  8. Lordy, I love reference books about history. I have a used set of This Fabulous Century that has a book for each decade from 1910 to 1950. I read them for pleasure. I have others that I pull out once n a while to get my facts straight, but this set is my favorite. There are some earlier and later, but these were the ones I loved.
    I am so envious of you with those Time Life Western books. I always wanted a set. Now I guess I'll go to Amazon and see if I can find some used ones.
    I love maps, too. They're a great way to get organized when I'm into a story. I like just looking at them.
    Great post, Kaye.

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    1. Thanks, Sarah. You might look on etsy.com in addition to Amazon because I found sets at both sites when I was looking for a picture of them. I'm with you on just liking to look at maps, especially old maps.

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  9. Another resource. I love old maps and buy them at museums and other venues whenever I find and can afford them. They are, like you say, a treasure. Thank you for sharing your with us. Doris

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  10. Love my Time-Life books!

    Another great resource to consider is the humble almanac - you can generally find one from your characters' time period if you look hard enough, and the information adds flavor and color to your story.

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    1. J.E.S.
      I agree. Old almanacs offer a wealth of information for a particular time period. Lots of tidbits in them about daily life.

      I sometimes need my characters to be out and about during a full moon or a dark moon, so I try to keep the dates as accurate as I can, so I use this NASA website as a moon phases resource: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phasecat.html

      Even though it has 'eclipse' in the url, when you scroll down, there are tables you can click on to find the moon phases for a particular month/year.

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  11. WOW!!! great maps! don't you love all that cool research? Gems, all of them.

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  12. Thanks for the info, Kaye. Sometimes I get so lost in maps and research that I forget to write! I was a draftsman in another life and think that it's a shame we don't use cartographers any more. It was a true art form.

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