Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

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M4 Cardiff
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Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by M4 Cardiff »

Hi All,

was there only one version of this produced, or were there a number of versions? I have one that used to be my grandomother's (unfortunatley heavily drawn over when I was little, and have recently acquired a second copy, but it is missing its cover and the very first and last pages. the maps look intact and un-doodled.

Does anyone know about the history of this rather detailed publication, which unusually contains mapping for NI and RoI? and is it the first to have motorway strip maps? detailing some junction layouts?
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Comstock »

M4 Cardiff wrote:Hi All,

was there only one version of this produced, or were there a number of versions? I have one that used to be my grandomother's (unfortunatley heavily drawn over when I was little, and have recently acquired a second copy, but it is missing its cover and the very first and last pages. the maps look intact and un-doodled.

Does anyone know about the history of this rather detailed publication, which unusually contains mapping for NI and RoI? and is it the first to have motorway strip maps? detailing some junction layouts?
There was certainly more than one edition. Mine is 1980, with a green cover, but there were earlier ones with brown covers I think.
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bob@romiley1
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by bob@romiley1 »

I had a Brown covered one
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OLD GIT
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by OLD GIT »

I've got one from thr 60's ,When I can find it.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Pendlemac »

Got a blue covered one here ( was grandads ).

Date on front is 1986 / 87

Inside the rear cover it says it's the fifth edition ( copyright 1985 ) but reprinted with amendments in 1986.

109 town plans, approx 23 motorway strip-maps ( lost count as very small ptint in index :) ) and 13 primary routes.

Gazetteer says 24,500 places covered.

Actually, looking at the contents, I'd forgotten just how many subjects it covers.

I seem to remember that the older versions had little coloured boxes showing when plants flowered, this copy just has text.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Cloverleaf »

I grew up in the 70s with these. (my old man's)
Was absolutely fascinated by them.
Have now a 1967 brown cover and a 1979 green cover edition.
Still see them at car boot sales occasionally
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by A72 »

My Granddad had one of these. Brown cover, I think. It even had a plane-spotters guide in it.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Halmyre »

My wife's got a copy that belonged to her dad.

Green cover, inside (on the last page rather than the front) it says
"Second Edition (c) 1975 The Reader's Digest Association Limited", and below that "Second Revise 1977".

Worth bugger-all on ebay.

I've also got a brown-covered AA Road Book of Scotland that was my grandfather's. There's absolutely no indication of printing dates or revision numbers, but I think it dates from the late 1930s - it post-dates the Kincardine Bridge but it's obviously pre-war.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by vlad »

"If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed." - Sylvia Plath

From the SABRE Wiki: Book of the Road Mapping :

A list of the changes to Reader's Digest famous Book of the Road from 1960's to present.

|

... Read More
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M4 Cardiff
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by M4 Cardiff »

Thank you for your replies, most interesting, and apologies for using you as human google. I will have to carefully go through my two copies and look for any changes.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by WHBM »

We had a Mk 1 copy for many years. I would have said it was 1966 rather than 1967 (maybe dated 1967 but actually available from mid-1966, in typical Readers Digest "publication date" style). It had a black plastic slipcover over whatever colour cover the actual book was. I recall it was a joint production between the AA and Readers Digest. It's longstanding feature was the folded side flaps of the maps which (in theory) eased following an east-west lourney. Probably a more relevant idea in the Readers Digest homeland of the USA, which is geographically oriented east-west for long journeys, not so much in the UK which is principally north-south oriented.

Furthermore the map flaps were the first thing to fall off around one's home town.

I would guess the AA was responsible for the maps (who drew them ?) and the driving feature pages, such as mechanical tips, while the Readers Digest put the rest of the content together, such as roadside birds and flowers.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Nicholas »

I've got around half a dozen versions of the atlas, which in the process of acquiring did mean I purchased doubles... well at least other Sabristi benefited from them when I gave them away!

Having gone through them, there are some discrepancies with the list on the Wiki, however this may be down to reprints and amended versions. The ones I have are:

1967 - Book of the Road, second edition, first revision
1970 - Book of the Road, second edition, fifth revision

1975 - New Book of the Road, second edition
1977 - New Book of the Road, second edition, reprint with amendments
1979 - New Book of the Road, second edition, reprint with amendments

1980 - New Book of the Road, third edition
1981 - New Book of the Road, third edition, reprint with amendments

1982 - New Book of the Road, fourth edition

1993 - Atlas of the British Isles, second reprint

1996 - Book of the Road

It is surprising how often they creep up at decent car boot sales. :)
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by OLD GIT »

I've got one somewhere, seem to remember it was late 60's , with a brown cover , with a black plastic over cover .
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by drm567 »

WHBM wrote:I would guess the AA was responsible for the maps (who drew them ?)
The AA drew their own maps. A good many years ago (probably mid 1980s) I had a show-round at their Basingstoke office, probably with fellow members of the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. It always had me thinking how good the AA cartography was (is) and how they could produce such good mapping without a significant surveying resource. I thought no more of it until several years later when the OS took AA to court for breach of copyright. Much more details were published in 2001, see http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsi ... trica.html

To return to the original topic, certainly the Book of the Road was a most useful publication. Mine is dated 1966 and is still used regularly, being Mrs drm567's favourite map! Interesting that not many road atlases nowadays have a section on how to get your car going again when it breaks down!

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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by echowarning »

Fairly certain I've got a red cover edition somewhere, my Grandfather had a green edition that I'd spend hours studying as a kid.
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by A303Chris »

The one you want to get is the Sunday Times / Readers Digest Book of the Road from 1967. I picked one up at a school jumble sale in 1979 for 5p in perfect condition and then a few years later I saw a batterd version in the 2nd hand book section of the former London Street Bookshop in the late 80's Reading for £30. Expained what i had and was told only 500 were produced and if it were in good condiiton could be worth a lot. Took mine in and was told it was worth between £100 and £200. It is now on my book shelf out of reach of the kids. Since then I have found another copy, which cost me 20p at a book sale I was at, although it is not the same quality as the 1st, but given there worth though I should look after it
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Mattemotorway »

Spotted today- Reader's Digest Road Atlas of Britain, copyright 1988 with amendments 1990, seen in Fossgate Books in York...

Think it had a brown cover... The cover looked more like something from the early 70's rather than the early 90's...
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Trebeck »

This is like the one I have
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-med ... isremote=0

Its a nice item on the bookshelf
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Chris Bertram »

I have the Reader's Digest Driver's Atlas of the British Isles from 1988, containing town plans, maps with the foldover overlaps, incuding Ireland north and south (reduced scale, as are the Scottish highlands and islands), plus strip maps of motorways and much of the usual stuff including places of interest, hints on witer driving, channel port plans ets etc etc. Red cover, reasonable nick but much used :lol:
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Re: Readers Digest / AA New Book of the Road

Post by Stephen from Wuss »

My uncle had them. The additional information was fascinating. As a cricket fan all grounds where county cricket was played was marked including a separate symbol to denote minor counties grounds (My family support Durham who were a minor county back then, so it was useful to see where the likes of Cheshire and Staffordshire played their home fixtures). It was also interesting to see progress of the UK motorway network.
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