Vintage Pulp | May 7 2011 |
Above, four issues of the weekly pulp magazine Argosy from 1937 through 1940 with three covers from Rudolph Belarski and one from Marshall Frantz, plus early fiction from L. Ron Hubbard. These all came courtesy of our friends over at National Road Books.
Vintage Pulp | Feb 24 2011 |
You know we’re fond of anniversaries around here, so today we have an Argosy that was published seventy-one years ago today, in February 1940. The cover has Rudolph Belarski art, and inside is a slate of pure escapist fiction, from Eric North’s tale of Australian mysticism and adventure “The Green Flame,” to Charles Marquis Warren’s tale “Then I’ll Remember,” set aboard Noah’s Ark. And speaking of arks, in case you’ve wondered, an argosy is a merchant ship laden with an abundantly rich cargo. So it’s a fitting, if obscure, name for a magazine that publishes adventure fiction. As with all our recent Argosys, this one comes from National Road Books, and if you visit their website (edit: now defunct) you’ll find that they’re laden with an abundantly rich cargo as well. Thanks again guys.
Reader Pulp | Jan 28 2011 |
The guys at National Road Books have fed us more scans from their large Argosy collection, and above are five from 1938 through 1940. In these issues there’s fiction from Max Brand, C.S. Forester, and a raft of capable in-house writers. The cover art is from Rudolph Belarski (panels one and two), G.J. Rosen (three and four), and Emmett Watson (five).
After two years of finding almost nothing from Argosy suddenly we have a pipeline into a treasure trove thanks to NRB and we’re ecstatic, because Argosy was the first real pulp magazine, launched on a $500 budget by Frank A. Munsey in 1882. The venture wasn’t an instant success. Munsey had conceived a children’s publication and that version of Argosy went bust immediately. But Munsey managed to keep ownership of the idea and kept publishing on a shoestring budget.
As he learned the market, he realized a children’s magazine wasn’t the direction he wanted to continue. By fits and starts, he began shifting from young readers to pulp fiction and eventually transformed the magazine into an American staple that lasted until 1978. We’ll have more on Munsey’s publishing adventures later. Got any pulp treasures of your own? Feel free to do what National Road Books did and use the pulp uploader in our sidebar. Our mailbox is always open.
Edit: The Pulp Intl. uploader is on the fritz and has been for a long time. We keep meaning to fix it, but you know how it goes.
Vintage Pulp | Jan 21 2011 |
Above, a July 1940 issue of Argosy with a Rudolph Belarski cover and fiction from Eric North, Stookie Allen, Jim Kjelgaard and Frank Richardson Pierce. Find this and other issues of Argosy here.
Vintage Pulp | Jan 8 2011 |
Above we have a couple of sports-themed Argosy covers, which we’ve posted today because once again it’s the most wonderful time of the year over in the U.S.—NFL playoff time. Thanks to the wonders of satellite technology we don’t have to forgo watching the games, however we do have to watch them at the most wack hours imaginable, which throws the whole “have some friends over and drink a few beers” concept into serious doubt. Not that our friends actually appreciate American football. Anyway, these examples of Argosy hail from 1938 and 1939, and the covers are by Rudolph Belarski. Inside, you get fiction from Eustace L. Adams, William Du Bois and, in the second issue, part one of a novel length football adventure from Judson P. Philips. Okay, so after we nailed last year’s predictions, we know you’re positively atwitter with anticipation for this year’s. We’ve taken all of this weekend’s favorites. That’s Colts –3, Ravens –3, Eagles –3, and Saints –11. Bank it. You can see more vintage magazines at National Road Books here.
Update: One for four this weekend. Oh, the pain...
Reader Pulp | Jan 2 2011 |
Above is a cover of Frank A. Munsey’s Argosy from June 18, 1938, with a famous painting by Rudolph Belarski for Max Brand’s western adventure story “Señor Coyote”. Even though Argosy was the first real pulp magazine, we haven’t featured it often here because issues in good condition can be difficult to find. With this one we got lucky—the highly regarded antiquarian and collectible website National Road Books, who we’ve bought other magazines from, sent us an e-mail letting us know they’ve uncovered a trove of more than a hundred issues of Argosy, and included the scan. So thanks for the assist, guys. It’s always needed. And speaking of assists, we want to remind everyone that our reader pulp feature, in the sidebar at right, is available to anyone who wants to share pulp treasures. How’s about we all make that a resolution for 2011? Agreed? Great.
Sportswire | Oct 28 2009 |
In the U.S., Major League Baseball’s World Series begins tonight when the Philadelphia Phillies play the New York Yankees in New York City. These are two of the oldest organizations in the majors—the Phillies date from 1883, and the Yankees were formed in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles, before moving to New York in 1913 and rechristening themselves with a new name. So in honor of these venerable teams, and baseball in general, we’ve cobbled together a collection of baseball-themed pulp magazines—seven, actually, for the number of games we want the series to go. But however long it lasts, let’s hope the games are entertaining and the fiery rioting in the winning town is non-lethal. Most of these images came from here.
Vintage Pulp | Sep 22 2009 |
We decided to revisit Argosy magazine today, with a cover from September 1948. The idyllic image of a man who’s positively blissful over his boat motor was painted by Peter Stevens, a Welsh artist who settled in the U.S. during WWII, and after a career in the pulps, went on to become a well-regarded portraitist. You can see more pieces and read a bio here. Meanwhile we’ll be doing to some research on boating to try and find out what kind of happy vapors this guy is inhaling.
Vintage Pulp | Jun 2 2009 |
Frank Munsey’s Argosy is generally considered to be the first pulp magazine. By the time this beautiful June 1955 issue came out it had already been publishing for seventy-three years, and would last another twenty-three. The cover art, with its fearsome cat exploding from the heart of darkness to strike at a solitary hunter, perfectly embodies William Blake’s famous poem The Tyger, in which he wrote of the fire in the creature's eyes, and of its brain forged in a furnace. We’ll have much more from Argosy in the future.