Your first road atlas

[bugo]

Mine was a 1983 Rand McNally. 

[DandyDan]

I had a 1982 Rand McNally for Christmas.  At least I think it was the 1982 edition.  I do remember getting one for Christmas when I was still in elementary school.

[1995hoo]

Couldn't tell you what year, but it would have been a AAA atlas because my parents always got AAA maps and the like.

[dgolub]

I had the five-borough New York City and Nassau County atlases from Hagstrom going back to when I was a little kid.

[US71]

1950-something I found abandoned. Not sure I still have it, tough

UPDATE
1963 Rand McNally/State Farm Road Atlas.



I also have a 1967 with the same cover

[Alex]

1984 Gousha North America Road Atlas. Received as a gift from my Uncle that Christmas (the atlas catapulted my interest in roads)!. I lost the original (stupidly gave it away), but found the same copy on Ebay a few years ago and bought it again.

[US 41]

1990 Rand McNally (made before I was born). I think it would be cool to have a road atlas from when my dad was born and one from when my grandpa was born. There would be so many changes.

I often wonder how different the American Highway network will be when I have grandchildren. Maybe there will be a new highway system that is even better than the interstates (doubt it, but a possibility).

[AsphaltPlanet]

1988 Mapart Toronto and Area Road Atlas.

[US 41]

1988 Mapart Toronto and Area Road Atlas.

Are RandMcNally's common in Canada or does Canada have its own road atlas?

[mapman1071]

1966 Hagstrom NYC 5 boro Pocket Atlas
1975 Rand McNally

[Dr Frankenstein]

I think mine was a 1995 or 1996 MapArt Québec atlas. I'd follow on the map while my parents were driving as a way to entertain myself, using the signs to situate myself (or occasionally asking an annoyed parent).

[Pete from Boston]

It was a Hagstrom.  Dense with detail, imperfect, personally and thoughtfully conceived.  I miss those maps. 

[sammi]

My first encounter with a map (and this probably doesn't count) was in the supplementary pages of a Baguio and area (+63 74) phone directory from 1998. Another thing in that phone book that interested me was the presence of ZIP code listings, e.g.
    Agoo     2504
    Aringay  2503
    Bacnotan 2515
    Bagulin  2512
    Balaoan  2517
    Bangar   2519
    Bauang   2501
and it used to frustrate me that they were in alphabetical order, and not ZIP code order.

I used to have an EZ Map Philippines road atlas and an EZ Map Metro Baguio street atlas, but I seem to have misplaced them. I'd probably go look for them when I go back.

As for Canadian ones, I've used a MapArt Toronto and Area and a MapArt Golden Horseshoe (which is a superset of the Toronto and Area one), but they're not mine and I have yet to get one at all. (Anyone recommend any? )

[CNGL-Leudimin]

My first road atlas was a 2002 Campsa (now Repsol) Spain & Portugal one.

[oscar]

1973 Rand McNally, which I still have (I later acquired some earlier editions).

[vdeane]

Late 90s/early 2000s Hagstrom New York atlas... I believe the second to last edition.  I still have one for nostalgia purposes.

[kkt]

1977 AAA.

My parents had a late 1950s Rand McNally which I looked at a lot growing up and is now with me.

[Roadrunner75]

I wish I could find whatever happened to the contents of my parent's old map drawer, to answer this question.  Probably a mid-to-late 70s Rand McNally and by the time I was really reading it a lot of interstate gaps shown on it were rapidly being completed.  I remember looking at either this or some other maps in the drawer where the Commodore Barry Bridge (US 322 NJ/PA) wasn't even shown as complete.  Also remember some really old Esso state maps, among other gems.  One of my favorites were Franklin Maps of Gloucester County showing multiple proposed alignments of NJ 55 through the northern part of the County (single dashed as if it were to be an undivided route), along with a proposed US 322 freeway.

[AsphaltPlanet]

1988 Mapart Toronto and Area Road Atlas.

Are RandMcNally's common in Canada or does Canada have its own road atlas?

We have RandMcNally maps, but they aren't very good.  Mapart, now RouteMaster, makes much, much better maps of Canada than RandMcNally

[The High Plains Traveler]

I harangued my parents for Thomas Bros. street guides of the L.A. area. They bought me one or two. Easy Christmas present, I guess, when other kids were getting a GI Joe.

[xcellntbuy]

A 1970 Rand McNally.  It cost the outrageous price of $1.95.  Mom thought it was way too much for a then-10-year old.

[kurumi]

1985 Rand McNally. Back in those days I would scan every page of each year's atlas, looking for new 3-digit interstates. We don't get surprised like that anymore.

[rschen7754]

Probably a 1996 Rand McNally. The map that made the most impact on me was an AAA map of the LA freeway system, though.

[renegade]

1970 Rand McNally, branded by State Farm on the front and rear covers.  My Dad gave it to me when I was eleven years old in the hope that I would, for the love of God, stop picking up free maps by the handful at every gas station.  When the free maps ended, I started buying the Rand every year with my allowance when it came out.  Unfortunately, that first atlas is long gone, but I have nearly every one I have purchased since the late '80s, plus I have found a couple from the mid-'60s that I keep put away.

[bandit957]

1984 Gousha North America Road Atlas. Received as a gift from my Uncle that Christmas (the atlas catapulted my interest in roads)!. I lost the original (stupidly gave it away), but found the same copy on Ebay a few years ago and bought it again.

The exact same copy??? How did you manage to find the exact same copy?