Pulps Collection
Bob has collected pulp magazines, the fiction magazines published approximately from 1900 to the early 1950's, most of his life. He has a huge collection and has edited many books reprinting stories from the pulps. Pictured here are some of Bob's favorite pulps from his collection.
Soldiers of Fortune - February 1932 |
Black Mask - September 1929 |
Real Spicy Horror - April 1937 |
Mind Magic - July 1931 |
All About Television - 1927 |
One of the rare Clayton pulps JUNGLE STORIES from 1931. |
BUCK JONES is one of the rarest of all western pulp titles. |
All-American Fiction was a short-run magazine started by Argosy Publications in 1937 to expand its readership in the adventure fields. Unlike its incredibly popular sister-magazine, Argosy, All-American did not run any serials or continue novels in its issues. As advertised on the cover, every story was complete in the issue. Unfortunately, readers seemed to prefer long adventure serials and the All-American format did not last very long. The magazine was folded back into Argosy with the November issue of Argosy.Noted authors who appeared in All-American included Richard Sale, J. Bedford-Junes, Ted Roscoe, Joel Townsley Rogers, Max Brand, Cornell Woolrich, Murray Leinster, Luke Short, and Gordon Chase.
The Octopus and The Scorpion were both one-shot pulps published in 1939 by Popular Publications in hopes of capturing fan attention with wild villains. Neither pulp succeeded and they only lasted a single issue. Both novels were credited as being written by Randolph Craig. It was thought that Craig was a house named used by Norvell Page, author of most of the Spidernovels. In researching the Popular magazine files, Bob turned up checks crediting Ejler Jacobson with writing the two stories.
Dr. Yen Sin was the featured villain for three issues of his own magazine published by Popular Publications. Like Wu Fang before him, he was a sinister oriental with plans to conquer the United States. The novels were Fu Manchu imitations but written without Sax Rohmer's talent.
Among the many magazines Bob collects, one of the most interesting is Science and Invention, published by Hugo Gernsback, considered the father of modern science fiction. Science and Invention was a continuation of Gernsback's earlier magazine, Electrical Experimenter, with a somewhat wider scope. The magazine was published from 1920 (when its name was changed from Electrical Experimenter) to 1931, when it ceased publication during the worst of the Depression. Gernsback printed numerous speculative non-fiction articles in Science and Invention. He also published a number of science fiction novels in serial format, with many of the serials running 8 or 9 installments. Frank R. Paul illustrated most of these serials, many of which were written by Ray Cummings. Notable among the serials was A. Merritt's rewritten version of his novel The Metal Monster, which had been previously published in All-Story, and which Gernsback retitled The Metal Emperor. Perhaps the most famous issue of Science and Invention was the August 1923 issue of the magazine which Gernsback called his special "Scientific Fiction Number." It's been suggested that this issue was a try-out for Amazing Stories, which Gernsback began publishing in April 1926. Reproduced below are some of the many Science and Invention issues in Bob's collection.
Pirate Stories and High-Seas Adventures were two pulps published by Hugo Gernsback in the 1930's. The two magazines were both bi-monthly and alternated issues. Thus the first issue of Pirate Stories was dated and published in November 1934, while the first issue of High-Seas Adventures was dated and published in December 1934. Then came Pirate Stories, January 1935, followed by High-Seas for February 1935, etc.. Unfortunately, neither magazine caught on with the reading public. High-Seas only lasted for four issues and then was combined with Pirate Stories. Pirate Stories lasted four issues on its own, then combined with High-Seas for two more issues. In total, there were ten issues of the two pulps, four of High-Seas and six of Pirate Stories.Each issue of the two pulps featured a complete novel of adventure on the high seas or of piracy. These novels were written by some of the top pulp adventure scribes of the time, including such stalwarts as F. van Wick Mason, Captain Dingle, Morgan Robertson, and others. Expensive writers, especially for Hugo Gernsback who had a well-deserved reputation for being tight with a dollar. Some research by pulp fans revealed the truth about the novels - they were reprints of stories that had run as serials in other pulps like Argosy and All-Story magazines. Gernsback no doubt bought second magazine rights, a move similar to what he did with early issues of Amazing, filling his magazines with reprints instead of original material. Since there wasn't much of a market for pulp adventure fiction in the mainstream book field, publishers jumped at the chance to earn any extra money from their serials. A typical reprint fee offered by Gernsback in the 1930's was 1/7th of a cent per word, or $100 for a 70,000 word novel. No writer ever got rich being published by Hugo Gernsback.
Bob has complete sets of Pirate Stories and High-Seas Adventures. They are definitely one of the more interesting runs of the 1930's pulps.
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