New Issues (2/10/2012): Hugo Gernsback’s Amazing Stories 1-6
We’ve added yet another significant milestone to the Pulp Magazines Project website: issues #1-6 of Hugo Gernsback’s Amazing Stories (April-Sept. 1926), the first periodical of any kind devoted solely to science fiction, or, as Gernsback coined the term, “scientifiction.”
Publisher of over 50 magazines during his lifetime, Gernsback is considered by many to be “The Father of Magazine Science Fiction.” In 1923, when a special all-fiction issue of Science and Invention (which Gernsback edited, 1920-29) received an overwhelmingly positive response from its readers, Gernsback realized the market potential for an all-fiction scientific magazine.
Three years later, Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, which remains to this day one of the most highly respected and collectible pulps of any genre. In its inaugural issue, Gernsback explained his aim for the magazine:
By ‘scientifiction’ I mean the Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Edgar Alan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision. […] Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are also always instructive. They supply knowledge that we might not otherwise obtain—and they supply it in a very palatable form. For the best of these modern writers of scientifiction have the knack of imparting knowledge and even inspiration without once making us aware that we are being taught (“A New Sort of Magazine,” Vol. 1, No. 1, April 1926, p.3).
A hearty thanks to Beau Collier, Pulpscans, and the Pulps Preservation Project for making these issues available. Enjoy.
Reblogged this on Battered, Tattered, Yellowed, & Creased and commented:
Here I was just talking about Frank R. Paul and Hugo Gernsback, and the Pulp Magazines Project goes and adds digitized versions of the first six Amazing Stories issues. What timing!
So now you can have a firsthand look at Paul’s covers, and the early days of SF. (The first issues were mostly reprints of Verne, Wells, Poe, etc. while Gernsback attracted attention—and new writers.)
can’t wait to read them!
i was thrilled to find out at the end of last year that amazing stories is rising again like a phoenix from the ashes. a new publisher has taken the reigns and has resurrected the website: http://amazingstoriesmag.com/