A Twenty Year Mystery Solved!

A few years ago I posted a magazine that I believed contained a previously unknown essay by Elizabeth Barret Browning.

The basis for this was that the magazine in was in Titan, was not able to be located in any source and also due to the fact that it had been separated from its original wrappers, despite internal evidence that it was published somewhere in the Mississippi valley. My investigation led to conversations with various literary and publishing authorities in both St. Louis and New Orleans, but, alas, to no avail. Conversations with Browning authorities likewise were fruitless.

So where else could the mystery be solved? In the Lomazow collection of American periodicals!Recently going over a stack of uncatalogued issues I came across the first issue of Cresent Monthly, published in New Orleans in 1866.

A perusal of the contents and typography immediately reminded me of Titan and, indeed, a comparison yields the inevitable conclusion that the publisher was one in the same!

It is now quite clear that Titan was published in New Orleans and, to this point, my copy remains the only one known. I own a number of unique periodicals but this one ranks as the most important since it contains a heretofore unknown work of a major American author. Mr Evelyn published Titan in 1859 and, like many others. suspended his operations during the Civil War. In 1866, he started anew with Crescent Monthly.

Just another reason why collecting magazines over the previous three decades has been such a source of pleasure to this blogger.

Periodically yours,

SL

A Great Newsstand Photo. NYC June 1953

I love to collect old photos of newsstands. I just got back from the New Jersey Antiquarian Bookfair where I purchased this one.




The dealer was unable to date it but by looking at the magazines in the picture, especially TV Fan in the upper right hand corner, the date is June 1953. Here's the magazine, which happens to be the first issue.




The location is probably at the north end of Columbus Circle, with Central Park West to the left of the newstand. Enjoy a great piece of NYC magazine history!
Periodically,

SL

LIFE Magazine at 75

Today is the seventy-fifth anniversary of an important day in magazine history- the first publication of the news-magazine incarnation of LIFE (see my post "The Origin of Life" for history of the prior title). Ever since the iconic image of the Fort Peck Dam by Margaret Bourke-White appeared on the first issue LIFE has been an important part of the documentary history of our country. Though it ceased weekly publication in 1972, Henry Luce's magnum opus continues to be a prime measure of how photo-journalism is defined.

I thought I'd share the first three pages of the prospectus of the magazine so you might see just how well it succeeded.

Since this blog is largely devoted to collecting, I also include (again) the most valuable single issue of LIFE, one that was never actually circulated. The famous Staubach issue was on the presses at the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was never circulated and only a few souvenir copies (perhaps a few dozen at best) were retained.

Happy thanksgiving to all!

Remembering Steve Jobs 1955-2011. A Magazine Tribute.

The recent passing of the twenty-first century Thomas Edison has spurred a reprise of my January 2009 post about computer magazines. Job's marketing genius is easily seen in both the magazines and internet link provided.



Thanks again to my computer magazine expert David Leishman, who provided some of the images, and my girlfriend Katherine for keeping me vigilant about keeping this blog updated.



My home is in West Orange, New Jersey, where many of the manifestations of Edison's genius came to fruition.

My apologies for the inconvenience of clicking below to view the previous post.

http://magazinehistory.blogspot.com/search?q=computer+magazines

Magazine Collection For Sale

After thirty-five years of collecting, it is now time to find an appropriate home for my collection, considered to be the finest in private hands. Thousands of exquisitely rare and historically important items.

The collection contains virtually every major magazine highlight ever published from the eighteenth century to the present and covers virtually every topic- literature, politics, technology (TV, Radio, Movies, Aviation etc). It also includes by far the largest collection of first issue pulp magazines (over 850) in existence. Any institution or individual that acquires it will immediately become one of the leading repositories of American popular culture. All of the posts from this blog have been done using material from the collection and the scope can be easily surmised by a review.

There are hundreds of feet of shelves occupied by bound volumes and individual issues. The collection fills two large rooms of my home.

Serious inquiries only, we are talking a price (on request) well into seven figures. Combination sale/donation considered.

This is the real deal. An unreproducible repository of major importance. Sold only as a whole.

please respond to lomazow@comcast.net.

Illustrated catalog on request.

Two More Candidates for Rarest Norman Rockwell Cover

My scanner has been replaced and additional images have been added to the previous post on cooking magazines.

Norman Rockwell is the gift that keeps on giving!

I just purchased this cover on ebay for a relative bargain of $110. I've never owned a copy but is in the Moffatt catalogue as C181. The U.S.N.R.F. was used on a Post and Life cover as well.

Inside this very rare magazine I was pleasantly surprosed to find a photograph and interview with my other obsession Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

The next cover, on a 1923 Maclean's, a Canadian magazine, is not in Moffatt. I just ran into an old friend and avid Rockwell enthusiast Phil Sperry, who told me he has one as well. From the models and style, the image was probably painted years earlier, circa 1916 or 1917. It may have been a previously rejected Post cover that Rockwell resubmitted, something he did regularly.

Cooking and Restaurant Magazines

This entry began with a call from my old friend and bookseller par excellance, Rusty Mott of Sheffield Massachusetts, offering me a broken run of a rare cooking magazine The Table.

Rusty told me that it was the second cooking magazine ever published and the volume of five of the eight issues had the original wrappers bound in. The price was right; I hadn't acquired much new lately so here it is.

Further research indicates that there are five institutional holdings, only two of which are complete (University of Minnesota and The Library of Congress). The editor was the pseudonymous Barry Gray, in actuality Robert Barry Coffin (1826–1886),an American journalist, poet, and writerof relatively minor importance. This appears to be his only foray into magazine publishing.

I then called the dealer who sold Rusty the volume, the very pleasant and knowledgable Dan Rabelais of Rabelais Books of Portland Maine, who told me that the best research on early cooking magazines appears in an article by Janet Longone of the great Clements Library at the University if Michigan in a recent magazine Gastronomia. Mr Rablelais was a general bookdealer who now specializes in cookbooks and the like.

Dan also told me that Janet identified the first cooking magazine that has a "weird name". This rung a bell and when I asked him if it was Mystery of Life, he believed that that was it. In fact I had acquired a copy in 1997 for $100 from Bob Seymour of Colebrook Book Barn, not really knowing much about it other than that I didn't have it and it was a first issue in wrappers. I had catalogued it in my addendum as appearing in 1868 and indeed containing recipes and advertisements for food related items, published by Alfred Berney. I could not find another copy in Union List of Serials but now when I just checked Berney's Mystery of Life, one holding shows up at New York Public Library. It was intended as a quarterly but there is no evidence a second issue was ever published. My wrappers are slightly different than that illustrated in Janet Longone's article. Perhaps she used the copy from NYPL.

I am proud to say It would therefore appear that my collection is the only one in the world with copies of both of these periodical gems, however serendipitously they were acquired!

While I'm on the subject of cooking magazines, I thought I'd add one more related item from my collection, a wonderful magazine from 1886 entitled Retaurateur. This wonderful periodical contains articles and copious advertising about restaurants and, most interestingly to me, an extensive pricelist of food items, inluding such present day staples as Bass Ale and Guinness' Stout! Ths magazine is not in ULS and may be the first of its kind. I've never seen another issue and have no idea how long it lasted.

You may find the above a little boring, but I continue to find it all quite fascinating.

Periodically yours,

Steven Lomazow, M.D.

100,000th hit!

Since this blog began on January 1, 2008, today we have our 100,000th hit!

Thanks to all of my readers.

Elizabeth Taylor 1931-2011

Pardon the delay, this was posted earlier in error on my other blog.

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln

With the generic "President's Day", the actual date of birth of our 16th president sometimes becomes overlooked.

Here's one of my favorite Lincoln images, from a rare astrology magazine, here from 1860.

By the way, the same magazine in April 1965 predicted he would be having a bad month with a higher than likely chance of assassination- demonstrating the old "even a stopped watch is right twice-a-day" chestnut.

Happy 100th Birthday Boy's Life

One of the greatest enjoyments about this blog for me is continuously acquiring new insights about the history of America's marvelous history of periodical publishing.

Two day's ago I received an email from Carrie Christofferson, the curator of collections of the Newseum (with whom I have had a long and pleasant relationship as a a consultant) in Washington, forwarding me an email from the executive director of the Boy Scout's of America inquiring if they knew of anyone who owned the first issue of Boy's Life Magazine that, since 1912 has been their official publication.

I immediately wrote and phoned Mr Goldstein and soon received a call from their curator of collections, John Ingram. Mr. Ingram asked me whether I was willing to sell my copy and informed me that mine was one only two known to exist. He also told me something that I had not previously been aware of.

The present numbering of the magazine dates back to Volume One Number One, issued March 1, 1911. A quarto sized publication of forty-eight pages.

Until now I had believed that this issue (identified as the first March issue since it was intended to be published as a bi-monthly), was the genesis of the magazine. In fact it is not. On January 1, 1911, George Barton of Somerville Massachusetts published 5000 copies of Boy's Life. It was eight pages and 10 1/2 x 14 inches in size. For whatever reason, this format lasted for only one issue and Mr. Barton restarted the project, essentially a new series, in March with a new Volume 1 Number 1, the one I own. Here is the second issue, that featured a reprinted Jack London Story, that first appeared in another magazine, Youth's Companion, on November 30, 1899.

Mr. Ingram also told me that no actual copies of the January 1 issue are known to exist, but he did have a photocopy of the entire issue. He could not tell me how it was acquired. He kindly provided me with a digital copy and I hereby reproduce the first page your edification. I have lightly retouched it to remove a few generations of photocopy artifact and restored it to what is as close to its original condition as I can surmise.

Mr. Ingram also informed me that the BSA did not have any copies of two issues in their original or digital files, October 1911 and January 1912. I recalled that I had collected a few random early issues over the years and when I checked by files, I found that I indeed owned a copy of the October 1911 issue, which, at least for now, is the world's only copy! Here is the cover and title page. Is this the first use of the motto "Be Prepared" and it's accompanying logo?

I will be supplying the BSA with my copy to add to their digital files. That leaves one, January 1912, to complete the collection. By 1912, circulation was over 50,000, such is the rarity of these magazines.

Should anyone know the location of one, you can contact Mr. Ingram at John.Ingram@scouting.org

A lot more information about the early history of Boy's Life can be found here:
http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/9411/d-wwas.html/d-wwas.html

I hereby make a standing offer of $1000 to the first person who will sell me an original copy of Boy's Life January 1, 1911!

On the subject of the Boy Scouts, I believe I can add a little to the knowledge about one of its founders, Daniel Carter Beard. After I acquired this completely unknown and beautiful magazine. I found that the editor was none other than D.C Beard who I assume to be one and the same as the man who went on to become an icon of scouting.

I love magazines!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing my most recent adventure! It was fun to bring it to you.

Periodically,

SL

Yet another: Saucy Stories Digest

Ok folks! You did such a good job with the last, here's another. This one is listed in Cottrill but this issue was never seen by him since he lists no info on contents or cover illustrator.

Saunders?

Periodically,

SL

More about Love Nest Stories

I have received two very nice comments from my posting of the cover image of Love Nest Stories. It turns out that my prized acquisition is an amalgam of various other prior publications, nonetheless unique in its own right. First of all, there is no table of contents but internal advertising confirms it is a D.M. publication. The Bellem story is entitled "Double Dare". I'm sure my following of fellow pulp sleuths, a small but dedicated band, will tell me if it is original to this magazine or, more probably, reprinted.

The most comprehensive response was from Beau of Darwination. His website is http://www.darwinscans.blogspot.com/. He has given me permission to post portions of the text of his message and some additional images that he supplied:

"I saw your post of Love Nest Stories today. I haven't seen it for sale
before. I think I can clear up a little bit of the mystery for you on
the date and the nature of the pulp. I recognized the cover image
instantly, as it comes from an issue I just recently acquired, Pep
Stories 1935-12. The cover on your Love Nest Stories also reminded me
of an issue I'd seen recently on Ebay because of the font on the issue
number and pricing, an issue which Bookery's lists as issue #1 of the
second series of French Frolics from c. 1936. I'll attach the little
auction image of the issue. I knew something was odd about it because
I'm certain that the image had been used previously on a Donenfeld pulp
of approximately the same era (which looking through my files now armed
with a bit of knowledge was on the cover of Pep Stories 1935-08, I'll
attach it too as well as the original cover and contents page for Pep
Stories 1935-12). I looked at my copy of the issue of Pep Stories just
to double check that I remembered no Bellem story within and to confirm
that your contents must be different. My first thought was that these
reprints were pirated UK editions (I've long held and still do hold the
unconfirmed suspicion that there were periods in 1936 and 1937 where
Donenfeld sent returned/coverless pulps over to the UK where they
received new covers), but looking in Doug Ellis' Uncovered just now, he
clears up nicely the mystery surrounding these Love Nest and French
Frolics issues:

on page 54

"In addition to their regular titles, however, there were sporadic other
titles, such as Paris Frolics and French Frolics, both of which saw at
least a couple of issues in 1934. These were reprint publications,
binding returned, (easily printed by The Donny Press), with the contents
page stripped out so that the reader didn't realize he was buying the
same material twice. The cover paintings on both of these publications
were also reprints. This practice continued for at least a few years;
as late as 1936 a Donenfeld pulp, Love Nest Stories, was the same sort
of reprint magazine."

So I think this Love Nest Stories is pretty close in vintage to this
"2nd series French Frolics Issue 1". I don't think that Ellis is
completely on track, though, with the statement that the cover paintings
on all of the French Frolics were reprints. I'm attaching a couple of
the covers that, if they were reprinted, I at least recognize from no
other American pulp or even the style as that of any of the American
artists. I'd pegged the second of these as a likely UK pirate cover.
Hrm. One mystery is solved and another rises up. Ah well, such is the
nature of digging around in these things. Hopefully I'll get my greedy
hands on some of these issues at one time or another for a bit more
insight. One of these days (on my long long list of projects), I'll do
a post on the covers to some of the UK girlie pulp pirate editions.
I've learned the hard way from buying a few of them that they aren't the
real article and that some have close (and not so close) copies of
American covers done by the British!"

Cheers,

Beau

P.S. The wiliness of Harry Donnenfeld never ceases to amaze me.

A New Pulp Acquisition: Love Nest Stories.

I just received this exceedingly rare pulp in the mail today. I got it from my good friend Richard Clear for $250. It is the 867th (yes 8-6-7)first issue pulp in my collection. The first new addition of 2011 (I added a grand total of 8 in 2010). It is undated but by the ads ca. 1935. A typical girly sleaze magazine printed on pulp paper interspersed with glossy photos of semi-nude women. Cleary a first issue as seen on the cover. This one is a bit special since it contains a story by the noted writer Robert Leslie Bellem.

It is not listed in the Adventure House Guide nor the first printing of Tim Cottrill's great book but is listed in the second edition.

Guaranteed you won't find this image anywhere else.

Periodically,
SL