Collectable space ephemera has become more popular since the anniversary of the moon landing, as the event becomes a much greater part of social history, especially as plans are in place for a return to the moon in the next few years. As a result, more and more material appears for sale on ebay, as people discover old files and scrapbooks, tucked away in cupboards and drawers. Although some of the material is overpriced and overrated, there are still items to be found quite cheaply, which are of quite profound interest.
As I have noted earlier, during the run up to the moon landing, space information was everywhere, from foodstuffs to toys, commercials to newspapers, as being a hot topic, it was almost guaranteed to secure attention. In a recent lot of ephemera I picked up was a large document, the same shape and format as a 33 rpm record album cover (although there is no indication that a disk was included) from Wiggins Teape Paper manufacturers. The 'Lunar Orbit' pack is undated, but appears to date from around 1969.
As Wiggins Teape are a paper company, the folder functions as a sampler for various paper types and weights, with one of the stocks being named 'Orbit'. The folder has images from Apollo missions and the moon on the cover and contains a range of loose items printed on various stock weights. In the pack are a fold out moon landing Flight Plan, based on the official NASA resource and what appears to be facsimiles of data sheets from the mission.
These include biogrqphical data on the Apollo 11 crew members, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and another foldout of the proposed landing area on the moon.
Its impossible to gauge if the pack is complete and it is probable that pieces are missing. There are two sheets of comms chatter from Apollo 8 included on lighter paper stock and a series of images of the LEM landing sequence, printed on card.
Other items include stats on Earth and Lunar orbit characteristics, as well as a quotation printed in embossed type on another grade of board. The emphasis seems to be on promoting the paper stock, rather than informational veracity, with the data and images chosen to best show the characteristics of the print stock, rather than the info.
Along with the Lunar Orbit pack, the seller included various other items, such as posters and other leaflets. One of which was a a tie in to aYorkshire TV programme 'Heavens Above' and was probably a mail away from the TV series. It consists of a small A5 folder with a larger sheet inside and pages of information about star gazing and astronomy in the UK.
The seller was clearly an amateur astronomer in the day and the lot offered a pair of plastic Planispheres, a small pocket version and a large 12" diameter version, for predicting and discovering the formation of the constellations on any given night.
Possibly one of the best items in the lot is a large format Rand McNally Moon Map, dated 1990, with a good clear representation of all the major features of the lunar surface, as visible by telescope.
A second McNally publication of a solar system poster was included, probably from the same series.
Finally an earlier Daily Telegraph 'Sky At Night' poster, by Geographia. It is undated, but has been wall mounted at some point, so is probably of 1960's vintage.
