The Complete 'National Geographic' On DVD Means From October 1888 On

This, too, was caught in the ongoing dispute over freelancers being paid for print-to-electronic content, but any historian or fan of National Geographic has to be thrilled that every issue over the past 120 years is on DVD. When NG launched, there were just 38 states (California and Nevada were the only two west of Colorado), and New York’s blizzard that March had induced city fathers to put nascent telephone lines underground. Internationally, Victorian Great Britain’s empire was so vast that the “sun never set.”

Just the beginning of NG’s rich history (Who, other than Jules Verne, could have envisioned what would happen over the next 120 years?), and the six DVD-ROM set with partner Topics Entertainment Inc. will retail for $69.95 with its November 1 release. Hard drive goes for $199.95, and although “the end,” for now, is December 2008, there will be a 2009 update next spring. All issues of The New Yorker and Rolling Stone have also been digitized, as well as a portion of Playboy.

Newest “NG” international entry: by National Geographic Kids, in Indonesia, with the November launch debuting today (October 26).