I'll pound you to a "Pulp" if you don't show off yours! 23 23

[htp]

Thank you, it was a really once in a lifetime luck. I've never seen one before or since, and I doubt there are more than a handful in existence. These early amateur magazines didn't have the greatest circulation.

Still hunting for that Call of Cthulhu issue though..

[OtherEric]

15 hours ago, htp said:

Thank you, it was a really once in a lifetime luck. I've never seen one before or since, and I doubt there are more than a handful in existence. These early amateur magazines didn't have the greatest circulation.

Still hunting for that Call of Cthulhu issue though..

Does anybody know if there's a meaningful difference between an amateur magazine and a fanzine?  At least, in terms of production and circulation... there are fairly clear differences in content and objectives.

[htp]

7 hours ago, OtherEric said:

Does anybody know if there's a meaningful difference between an amateur magazine and a fanzine?  At least, in terms of production and circulation... there are fairly clear differences in content and objectives.

I'm not a pro at this, but I think you basically have it. A fanzine is a type of amateur magazine with a more specialized subject. I don't think there's much difference in production, although in my experience fanzines tend to be less consistent (their market is established fans, not fiction readers in general).

I've been unsuccessfully trying to find out more about circulation numbers myself. Wikipedia claims 60 for Fantasy Fan, which, given its prominence, may be fairly representative of the period.

Curious if anyone else has more info on this though.

[OtherEric]

1 hour ago, htp said:

I'm not a pro at this, but I think you basically have it. A fanzine is a type of amateur magazine with a more specialized subject. I don't think there's much difference in production, although in my experience fanzines tend to be less consistent (their market is established fans, not fiction readers in general).

I've been unsuccessfully trying to find out more about circulation numbers myself. Wikipedia claims 60 for Fantasy Fan, which, given its prominence, may be fairly representative of the period.

Curious if anyone else has more info on this though.

I would expect the circulation to be very slightly higher; Wikipedia also suggests the print run on Fantasy Fan was closer to 300.  Admittedly, either number suggests an extremely small run; but professional printing rather than mimeographing would require a minimum order in most cases.  Still, a very tiny number in either case, and who knows what the survival rate is.

[Cat-Man_America]

4 hours ago, htp said:

I'm not a pro at this, but I think you basically have it. A fanzine is a type of amateur magazine with a more specialized subject. I don't think there's much difference in production, although in my experience fanzines tend to be less consistent (their market is established fans, not fiction readers in general).

I've been unsuccessfully trying to find out more about circulation numbers myself. Wikipedia claims 60 for Fantasy Fan, which, given its prominence, may be fairly representative of the period.

Curious if anyone else has more info on this though.

IMO, circulation numbers shouldn't be tied to whether a publication is amateur or professional (neither should subject specialization, as most magazines target special interests).  The simplest way to apply terms such as "fanzine" or "pro-zine" (professional fanzine) is by focusing on who writes, illustrates and publishes it.  An amateur publication is a fanzine ...regardless of the level of printing sophistication... because amateurs are producing it for a popular culture's fan base (with or without the approval of anyone associated with the theme of the publication).  

A pro-zine, conversely, is typically published by professionals or with the cooperation of professional writers and artists within a given field of interest. There are examples where the lines between fanzines and pro-zines blur due to the professional level of the content, but in those rare cases both terms may be applicable. Note: Occasionally gifted amateurs and professionals produce what might best be described as vanity projects, labors of love that extend well beyond what would typically be described as amateur.

The problem with using circulation numbers as a yardstick is that numbers of any publication sold or subscribed to are all over the map.  A slickly produced professional magazine with low circulation numbers ...either by misfortune or design... could be mislabeled as a fanzine using that as the sole criteria.

Sorry, that was a long two cents worth. 

 

[OtherEric]

And, fresh in today, the February 8, 1947 issue of the Saturday Evening Post.  First publication of "The Green Hills of Earth" by Robert Heinlein.  Noteworthy for quite a few reasons, starting with the fact that Heinlein (or any science fiction writer) got a SF story published in one of the "Slicks".  It's hard to understand now just how unheard of something like that was at the time.  I'm honestly not sure I really get it completely myself; but it's clear from reading any history of the genre or comments from writers just what a big deal it was at the time.

The main character, Rhysling, has a crater on the moon named after him.  It was originally named by the Apollo XV crew and later officially adopted.

"We pray for one last landing

On  the globe that gave us birth;

Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies

And the cool, green hills of Earth."

Edited November 8, 2018 by OtherEric

[OtherEric]

Today’s book, with a beautiful Bok cover

[OtherEric]

On 11/7/2018 at 1:29 PM, Cat-Man_America said:

IMO, circulation numbers shouldn't be tied to whether a publication is amateur or professional (neither should subject specialization, as most magazines target special interests).  The simplest way to apply terms such as "fanzine" or "pro-zine" (professional fanzine) is by focusing on who writes, illustrates and publishes it.  An amateur publication is a fanzine ...regardless of the level of printing sophistication... because amateurs are producing it for a popular culture's fan base (with or without the approval of anyone associated with the theme of the publication). 

 

I was not trying to tie circulation to whether something was amateur or professional.  I was trying to tie the print run to the mechanism of the printing.  The Vagrant was clearly professionally printed; the printer would have demanded a minimum press run.  Whereas a mimeographed magazine would hit an upper limit as the mimeograph masters wore out.

I agree with pretty much everything you said, otherwise.

[Cat-Man_America]

Two examples of Hannes Bok art in my collection, the pro-zine Bizarre and an original (acquired through HA from Jerry Weist's collection)... 

  

 

6 hours ago, OtherEric said:

I was not trying to tie circulation to whether something was amateur or professional.  I was trying to tie the print run to the mechanism of the printing.  The Vagrant was clearly professionally printed; the printer would have demanded a minimum press run.  Whereas a mimeographed magazine would hit an upper limit as the mimeograph masters wore out.

I agree with pretty much everything you said, otherwise.

Thanks for that.  I wasn't disagreeing with your specific points, just posting a more detailed response to htp's generalization given my own experience in both amateur and professional publishing. 

 

[htp]

Anyone else checking HA today?

That Doc Savage issue is sitting at over $13k with BP right now...

[OtherEric]

12 hours ago, htp said:

Anyone else checking HA today?

That Doc Savage issue is sitting at over $13k with BP right now...

Wow.  I don't know what the first issue normally goes for, but that does seem like a bit of a jaw dropper in the grade it was in.

[RedFury]

18 hours ago, OtherEric said:

Wow.  I don't know what the first issue normally goes for, but that does seem like a bit of a jaw dropper in the grade it was in.

Heritage sold a Good copy of Doc Savage 1 in August for $8,400, about double what I expected it to sell for.  But based on that sale I suppose the VG- selling for $13,200 lines up.   I'm happy to see this.  Some of these pulp keys are very-undervalued when compared to comic book keys.  Maybe we're seeing some price adjustment.  We're seeing it with the first Cthulhu appearance in Weird Tales too.  

[RedFury]

Some previously unknown Strasser pulps hit ebay recently, and I managed to come away with the complete set of Captain Satan.  They are stunning high-grade copies, with amazing colors, especially the reds.  Check out how great the red cover on the second issue is.

[OtherEric]

56 minutes ago, RedFury said:

Heritage sold a Good copy of Doc Savage 1 in August for $8,400, about double what I expected it to sell for.  But based on that sale I suppose the VG- selling for $13,200 lines up.   I'm happy to see this.  Some of these pulp keys are very-undervalued when compared to comic book keys.  Maybe we're seeing some price adjustment.  We're seeing it with the first Cthulhu appearance in Weird Tales too.  

I do think the pulps, or at least the Hero and SF pulps, have a somewhat better survival rate and significantly lower demand than the comics.  But if Doc Savage had been a comic, it would have gone for 10-20 times what those sales were, at a minimum.

I sometimes cannot believe some of the pulps I actually own, honestly, given their importance.  I'm quite happy that I do, however!

Edited November 17, 2018 by OtherEric

[OtherEric]

53 minutes ago, RedFury said:

Some previously unknown Strasser pulps hit ebay recently, and I managed to come away with the complete set of Captain Satan.  They are stunning high-grade copies, with amazing colors, especially the reds.  Check out how great the red cover on the second issue is.

Those are just jaw dropping books!

[DR.X]

fantastic looking copies

[PopKulture]

5 hours ago, RedFury said:

Some previously unknown Strasser pulps hit ebay recently, and I managed to come away with the complete set of Captain Satan.  They are stunning high-grade copies, with amazing colors, especially the reds.  Check out how great the red cover on the second issue is.

Wow! Mad congrats on a cherry run of one of the great hero titles!  

[Robot Man]

Hard to go up against that beautiful run of Capt Satan...

I recently scored this cool one at a flea market. First issue, awesome shape, beautiful Bok cover and only a buck. 

[RedFury]

1 minute ago, Robot Man said:

Hard to go up against that beautiful run of Capt Satan...

I recently scored this cool one at a flea market. First issue, awesome shape, beautiful Bok cover and only a buck. 

Excellent buy for $1.  I love Bok, and just added some of his Shasta book covers to my collection.

[PopKulture]

11 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Hard to go up against that beautiful run of Capt Satan...

I recently scored this cool one at a flea market. First issue, awesome shape, beautiful Bok cover and only a buck. 

Yeah, Bok was somehow able to channel that Maxfield Parrish palette whenever he wanted. I mean, just look at those colors!