1940's-1960's Sci Fi Pulps/Magazines

[pinkfloydsound17]

Sold some stuff today to a friend who has just started collecting. Met his dad who is an older gentleman and he mentioned having around 100 older sci fi magazines that he thinks are from the 60's or older.

I am just curious if anyone here collects older sci fi pulps and if they can recommend which series (if any) are worth the read. He mentioned having some Amazing Stories and a bunch of other stuff. Seeing as I am loving anything old and different right now, I thought it may be worth digging into. Any info you have is appreciated. I will try to get more specifics as to what he has exactly in the coming weeks. Cheers!

[berk]

I don't know anything about them as collector items, but I always have a look at any I happen to see around and depending on the price will usually pick up any with authors I happen to like or sometimes even if they just have nice artwork.

The ones I would really like to get would be New Worlds during Moorcock's reign as editor, but I've never come across any so far.

[dan bailey]

I have a real soft spot for Imagination & Other Worlds from the '50s, personally. The columns on sf fandom & the zine reviews alone tended to be worth the price of admission; same is true of loads of other titles from that general era as well.

[Slam_Bradley]

I don't collect, but I love Pulps of all sorts and SF pulps in particular.

Unknown is generally considered the gold standard of SF/Fantasy pulps. It didn't last as long as Weird Tales or probably have as continued an influence. But pretty much every issue was solid gold and it was a virtual Who's Who of SF writers of the "Golden Age of SF."

Astounding/Analog arguably ushered in the Golden Age when John W. Campbell took over as editor in 1938. It was Campbell that nurtured the new batch of SF writers that were coming out of fandom including, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Lester del Rey, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. Van Vogt, etc. Astounding from '39-'46 is probably the most important SF magazine ever.

Amazing Stories was the first pulp solely devoted to SF. But was always well behind Astounding quality-wise.

Startling Stories is interesting in that it has a lot of ties to comic books. Mort Weisinger was its first editor. Otto Binder, Edmund Hamilton and Manly Wade Wellman all published a number of stories in Startling.

I have a soft spot for Planet Stories in that both Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett published extensively therein. It also published Philip K. Dick's first published story.

[dan bailey]

I have a soft spot for Planet Stories in that both Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett published extensively therein. It also published Philip K. Dick's first published story.

Yep -- "Beyond Lies the Wub." I'd love to own that issue ... though at least I used to have (& may still own) the issue of F&SF that contained his first actual sale, "Roog."

[zryson]

pinkfloydsound17 - I have always thought the best way to find something you like or might like is to have a look through some of the pages. Rather than by going somebody else's recommendations.

[Ish Kabbible]

I'm not a collector but I've read tons of the stories in paperback versions. You can't go wrong with Astounding from 1938 till the early 50s. After that the editor, John Campbell, got caught up in Scientology and the magazine suffered. Galaxy was the premier SF mag from that point thru the mid-60s. Of course other mags had some great authors/stories as well

[Ish Kabbible]

Forgot to mention but about 10 months ago I stopped into Midtown Comics in Manhattan and noticed they acquired a large collection of SF digests from the 60s and 70s. All in excellant condition with a subscription sticker from the original owner. They were all priced at $2 each and I was tempted to pick some up but I already own much of the contents in paperback. Even at a measly $2 they seem to sell very slowly as the store still has many left in stock.

[Slam_Bradley]

I'm not a collector but I've read tons of the stories in paperback versions. You can't go wrong with Astounding from 1938 till the early 50s. After that the editor, John Campbell, got caught up in Scientology and the magazine suffered. Galaxy was the premier SF mag from that point thru the mid-60s. Of course other mags had some great authors/stories as well

Galaxy really was a great magazine. Both H. L. Gold and Fred Pohl did a very good job editing it and it generally did have a different focus than Astounding.

I didn't mention it because it was a digest from the get-go.

[zryson]

Ish Kabbible - magazines and digests just don't seem to be much in demand anymore. I often see them at bookstores I visit but often they just sit there in the boxes/crates.

[Ish Kabbible]

True about the low demand-especially in a comic store. I feel sad that the guy who sold his collection had owned them for about 40-50 years and did'nt receive the money he originally paid for them. Well there's also a ton of comics you could say the same thing about, especially the 1990s and up

[zryson]

One of the problems with people who are seeking to get rid of their collections is that they are simply too many people who are doing the same. Often people are lucky if they can get even a fraction of what they originally spent. At two of the stores I visit they regularly get collections in from people seeking to off-load them and only one of the stores will accept magazines because they simply just sit there in the boxes. I generally only buy magazines if they're from the 1970s and usually only then if they have popular superheroes like Batman or Superman or things like Star Wars. At one of the stores they got a bunch of Creepy and Eerie and I bought like two of them because its just not stuff I normally buy. I tend to mainly stick to comics.

[Rob Allen]

It's entirely possible that some of these are digests - the full-size pulp magazine format died in the 1950s, didn't it?

When I was reading them in the early 70s, Analog was clearly the leader for hard sf, and Fantasy & Science Fiction the "softer" alternative. Galaxy was still around, with a companion title, Worlds of If, from the same publisher. Another companion title, Worlds of Tomorrow, had died in the 60s. My favorites, though, were the original sf magazine, Amazing Science Fiction, and its younger companion title, Fantastic Stories. Both were edited by Ted White, and he made those two magazines fun. I'm now in an online group that he's a member of, and it's been a pleasure getting re-acquainted with him.

[dan bailey]

My favorites, though, were the original sf magazine, Amazing Science Fiction, and its younger companion title, Fantastic Stories. Both were edited by Ted White, and he made those two magazines fun.

Definitely my favorites from the '70s, especially Fantastic. I had two letters published in an issue in, I think, mid-'76.

[mrc1214]

Do any of you still have your copies of these magazines?

I'll have to keep an eye out for them.

Dan check your pm box please.