The ARGOSY

   US PULP MAGAZINE published by the Frank A.MUNSEY Corp.; ed Matthew White Jr (from 1886 to 1928) and others. It appeared weekly from 9 Dec 1882 as The Golden Argosy, became The Argosy from 1 Dec 1888, went monthly Apr 1894-Sep 1917, then weekly, as Argosy Weekly, 6 Oct 1917-17 July 1920. It combined with All-Story Weekly (The ALL-STORY) to become Argosy All-Story Weekly 24 July 1920-28 Sep 1929. It then combined with MUNSEY'S MAGAZINE to form two magazines, Argosy Weekly and All-Story Love Tales, the former continuing as a weekly 5 Oct 1929-4 Oct 1941; it went biweekly from 1 Nov 1941, monthly from July 1942, and became a men's adventure magazine in Oct 1943, publishing its last sf in the July 1943 issue. Of the general-fiction pulp magazines, TA was one of the most consistent and prolific publishers of sf. Prior to 1910 it had featured sf and fantasy serials and short stories by Frank AUBREY, James Branch CABELL, William Wallace COOK, Howard R.GARIS, George GRIFFITH and others. Its sf output slackened during the first half of the next decade, a period in which it published sf by Garrett P.SERVISS and Garret SMITH, as well as stories in the Hawkins series by Edgar FRANKLIN, but picked up on becoming a weekly. It discovered a major author on publishing The Runaway Skyscraper (1919) by Murray LEINSTER (whose memorable The Mad Planet appeared in 1920) and published novels by Francis STEVENS before the merger with All-Story Weekly. Following this, White retained the editorship and continued publishing sf with many works by authors later to appear in the SF MAGAZINES, notably Edgar Rice BURROUGHS, Ray CUMMINGS, Ralph Milne FARLEY, Otis Adelbert KLINE, and A.MERRITT. Even in the 1930s such sf and weird-magazine authors as Eando BINDER, Donald WANDREI, Manly Wade WELLMAN, Jack WILLIAMSON and Arthur Leo ZAGAT were still appearing in its pages. Its last serialization was Earth's Last Citadel 1943; 1964) by C.L. MOORE and Henry KUTTNER. Many of TA's stories were reprinted in FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES and FANTASTIC NOVELS. The US TA should not be confused with UK magazines of the same name. There were two of these. The Argosy, pulp-size, Dec 1865-Sep 1901, ed Mrs Henry Wood (1814-1887), published occasional stories of the supernatural but was not known for sf. The Argosy, pulp-size, June 1926-Jan 1940, became a DIGEST in Feb 1940, retitled Argosy of Complete Stories. In both its pulp and digest forms this magazine primarily published reprints in many genres. Early on it serialized Mary SHELLEY's Frankenstein (1818; rev 1831) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), and published stories by Lord DUNSANY. Later, in its digest form, it published many stories by Ray BRADBURY. It lasted into the 1960s. Further reading: Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of the Scientific Romances in the Munsey Magazines 1912-1920 (anth 1970) ed Sam MOSKOWITZ.