The very first map of the Forgotten Realms was created by Ed Greenwood and mailed in sections to TSR in the course of the late Eighties after he offered the setting to the corporate for $5000. Years later it ended up hanging in a pub close to Madison, Wisconsin. D&D historian Ben Riggs talks concerning the historical past of the map on his weblog.

The map is called the “Martin Map” after it was saved by TSR’s Forgotten Realms editor, Julia Martin — Jeff Grubb, the then-custodian of the map — left TSR in 1995, and left the map in his cubicle. Martin stored maintain the map and took it to Seattle when WotC purchased TSR.