Hugo Gernsback. The Upcoming Centennial of Ralph 124C 41+. The Greatest Ever Work of Futurism

April 2011 will be the one-hundred year anniversary of the greatest work of futurism ever written, Hugo Gernsback's Ralph 124C 41+ (itself a play on words). It appeared in twelve consecutive installments in Gernsback's pioneer electrical journal Modern Electrics. Here is the first issue of that publication:

While the plot of the story has been (rightfully) criticized as amateurish, the greatness of the work lies in Gernsback's prophetic vision of the future. Jules Verne and aother authors might have fallen upon isolated futuristic creations but the panoply of incredible and accurate predictions in "Ralph" far exceeds any other work. The story is the first to describe, among others, television (and channel surfing), remote-control power transmission, the video phone, transcontinental air service, solar energy in practical use, sound movies, synthetic milk and foods, artificial cloth, voiceprinting, tape recorders, and spaceflight. It also contains "...the first accurate description of radar, complete with diagram..."

The easiest way to appreciate this amazing (an adjective used by Gernsback on the first ever magazine devoted to science-fiction, a term coined by.... you guessed it, Hugo Gernsback)

The first issue of Amazing Stories

work is to show the covers of the serial for you to appreciate, each an illustration from the story. It would take a many years of intensive searching to put together a run. The book edition did not appear until 1925.

I have grabbed a few images from the web for comparison to help you appreciate the uncanny nature of the work.

The first image of television!

This one in particular blows me away! We still have a few more years to go until solar fields are a widespead reality. Remember, the above image was published in 1911!

You need not go further that any NFL broadcast to see a woman wearing a similar apparatus.

If you still don't understand why present day science-fiction awards are called "Hugo's", here is the first magazine issue devoted to science-fiction and a few other of Gernsback's publications from my collection.

The first magazine devoted to television- 1927!

1931

The man in the picture is Gernsback himself, watching the invention he first predicted and whose name he coined.

Another "Our" African American Magazine. Our Grapevine

I have written previously if the list of magazines that I have collected with the word "our" in the title that are publications intended for the African American community prior to the mid 1950's

http://magazinehistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/lena-horne-1917-2010-african-american.html

I just obtained another exquisitely rare example on eBay. While undated it is from late 1955 0r early 1956 (referring to Willie Mays as 24 years old) and published by Perrin Publications in New York, being the equivalent of Confidential.

There is only one reference to it on the web and it probably never made it to a second issue. Another exquisitely rare magazine and yet another wonderful reason to collect and appreciate magazines. Enjoy!

Here are some other rare related first issues.

Happy 100th Birthday Boy Scouts. Boy's Life. Norman Rockwell

Sorry for not posting more recently. I've been immersed in a new book on General Albert C. Wedemeyer.

One cannot discuss the history of the Boy Scouts without referencing their magazine Boy's Life, begun in 1911. The Boy Scouts have issued a number of more specialized periodicals, but Boy's Life is their flagship.Early issues are exceedingly rare. Rockwell's first ever magazine appearance (December 1912) and his first magazine cover (unsigned September 1913) are highlights.

I had Rockwell sign a copy of this for me and traded it away.

I still own the first three issues and a volume from 1914 that was art edited by Rockwell (his first job in illustration) that contains dozens of his illustrations. Rockwell did illiustration from the magazine well into the 1970's. I don't believe that there has been a longer association between an illustrator and a magazine in publishing history.

See you again soon.

June 6th

I can"t let this day pass without at least a little magazine tribute to the sacrifice made by our gallant troops sixty four years ago. Nothing here is specifically related to D-Day, but I think you'll get the point.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Paul Revere in Magazines.

I just love how everything seems to fit together at times. The original idea for this post was to start a series of the first appearances of famous American literary figures in magazines; then it took on a life of its own. To wit:

I first wrote of Longfellow's first appearance in 1996 in the first book I self-published (item 174). The image was of low resolution, as megabytes and software were sparse, cumbersome and expensive at the time.

When Longfellow was a student at his beloved Bowdoin College in Maine, his first two published works appeared in the fourth issue, April 1824, of James McHenry's American Monthly Magazine (one of three of the same title that appeared within a decade, distinguished by me by the editor).

The first appearance was anonymous and quite lengthy for the time,the second a mere two stanzas signed H.W.L.

One of America's most revered poets, Longfellow enjoyed great celebrity during his lifetime and his work appeared in over a dozen different magzines during his lifetime. See: Bibiography of American Periodicals by Richard West and yours truly (copies available directly from Periodyssey).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow

Perhaps the most famous af all is Paul Revere's Ride that appeared in the venerable Atlantic Monthly in January 1861. This epic essentially rewrote history and still today defines Revere as an American legend. Before the poem he was best remembered as a talented but obscure silversmith and engraver.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere%27s_Ride_(poem)

Now listen my readers and you shall hear
of the wonderful engravings of Paul Revere.

The images he made in the magazine Royal

gave patriots cause to be no longer loyal.

While he may be remembered for his famous ride

his artwork did more for the colonist's pride.

The most important contribution Revere actually made to American independence were the graphic images he engraved that incited the anti-British factions in colonial society. Perhaps the most notable is his image of the Boston Massacre.

but the "evil doctor" was, as you can see, was quite inflammatory.

Revere's engravings in magazines are rare and quite valuable ($500 to $20,000 depending on the image) and appear exclusively in the Royal American Magazine, published between January 1774 and March 1775.

The first issue rare wrappers

I have been fortunate to obtain all the issues except the last two and the balance of the Revere engravings, a feat which today would be very difficult to duplicate

Here is the most valuable. It appeared in the first issue. I've never had the opportunity to purchase this one and cringe at how much a nice copy would bring today. Royal American Magazine and Revere's engravings did much to incite the colonial fervor for independence.

When Revere rode to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock in Boston he surely knew what they looked like, having engraved them in 1774!

next: Nathanial Hawthorne

periodically, SL