Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.
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Launch of Argosy
In late September 1882, Munsey had moved to New York City to start Argosy, having arranged a partnership with a friend already in New York and working in the publishing industry, and with a stock broker from Augusta, Maine, Munsey's previous home. Munsey put most of his money, around $500, into purchasing stories for the magazine.
Once he was in New York, the stock broker backed out, and Munsey decided to release his New York friend from involvement, since they were now hopelessly underfunded. Munsey then pitched the magazine to a New York publisher, and managed to convince him to publish the magazine and hire Munsey as editor.[1]
The first issue was published on December 2, 1882, (dated December 9, 1882, a common practice at the time) and came out weekly. The first issue was eight pages, cost five cents, and included the first installments of serialized stories by Horatio Alger, Jr. and Edward S. Ellis.
Other authors associated with Argosy's early days include Annie Ashmoore, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (under the pseudonym Francis Stevens), W. H. W. Campbell, Harry Castlemon, Frank H. Converse, George H. Coomer, Mary A. Denison, Malcolm Douglas, Colonel A.B. Ellis, J. L. Harbour, D. O. S. Lowell, Oliver Optic, Richard H. Titherington, Edgar L. Warren and Matthew White, Jr., (who served for some time as editor).
Five months after the first issue, the publisher went bankrupt and entered receivership. By placing a claim for his unpaid salary, Munsey managed to assume control of the magazine. It was a very unlikely financial proposition; subscriptions had been sold which had to be fulfilled, but Munsey had almost no money and credit from printers and other suppliers was impossible to come by. Munsey borrowed $300 from a friend in Maine, and managed to scrape along as he learned the fundamentals of the publishing industry.
Munsey found that targeting children had been a mistake, as they did not stay subscribed for any length of time, since they grew out of reading the magazine. Additionally, children did not have much money to spend, which limited the number of advertisers interested in reaching them.
Title changes
In December 1888 the title was changed to The Argosy. Publication switched from weekly to monthly in April 1894, at which time the magazine began its shift towards pulp fiction. It eventually published its first all-fiction issue in 1896. The magazine switched back to a weekly publication schedule in October 1917. In January 1919, The Argosy merged with Railroad Man's Magazine, and was briefly known as Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine. This was followed in 1920 by a merger with All-Story Magazine, resulting in a new title, Argosy All-Story Weekly.
In November 1941 the magazine switched to bi-weekly publication, then monthly publication in July 1942. The most significant change occurred in September 1943 when the magazine not only changed from pulp to slick paper but began to shift away from its all-fiction content. Over the next few years the fiction content grew smaller (though still with the occasional short-story writer of stature, such as P. G. Wodehouse), and the "men's magazine" material expanded. The final issue of the original magazine was published in November 1978.
Genres
During its original 96-year run, it published works in a number of literary genres, including science fiction and Westerns. Edgar Rice Burroughs published some of his Tarzan and John Carter of Mars stories in the magazine. Other authors who appeared in the original run included Ellis Parker Butler, Max Brand and Robert E. Howard. Towards the end, it became associated with the men's adventure pulp genre of "true" stories of conflict with wild animals or wartime combat, Erle Stanley Gardner's articles on The Court of Last Resort, and later it was considered a softcore men's magazine.
Revivals
The magazine was revived briefly from 1990 to 1994. There were only five issues published sporadically during that time. A quarterly published slick revival began in 2004. It briefly went on hiatus before resuming publication in 2005 as Argosy Quarterly. The focus of this version was on new, original fiction. It is no longer being published.
UK Argosy
The British Argosy was a short story magazine in paperback size, published from 1957 to 1962, with stories and serials by leading authors, plus page-fillers of ostensibly amusing quotations, excerpts and cartoons.
There was an earlier British magazine, Argosy, or The Argosy, which was founded by Alexander Strahan in 1865.[2] and later owned and edited by Ellen Wood. It ran through 1901.
References
- ^ Pulp Rack
- ^ "The Ellen Wood Website". A Biographical Sketch. http://www.mrshenrywood.co.uk/who.html. Retrieved on December 22 2008.
External links
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