Rand McNally: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Rand McNally is a publisher of maps and atlases. The company was formed in 1868 in Chicago by William H. Rand and Andrew McNally, originally to print railway guides. The company opened a map department in 1872 and soon became, and has remained, the preeminent publisher of commercial maps in the United States.

The company has always been named "Rand McNally," but is sometimes jocularly referred to as "Rand and McNally," as in the opening to O. Henry's story, A Municipal Report:

...it is a rash one who will lay his finger on the map and say: “In this town there can be no romance—what could happen here?” Yes, it is a bold and a rash deed to challenge in one sentence history, romance, and Rand and McNally.