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Scored some nice, old F&SF magazines
Submitted by Capt. Xerox on April 3, 2008 - 7:41pm.
I came across a stack of old SF magazines in my local thrift store last weekend and couldn't resist buying a few of them. Some were from the 60s and 70s, but I snagged the ones from the 50s. I got the January 1953 edition as well as the February and July editions from 1956 of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
The 56 editions have cover art from Chesley Bonestall, my favourite SF illustrator, and the 1953 edition has a nice painting of a space station by Alex Schomburg who was almost as good.
What was coolest about the older of the trio of magazines is that it was stamped M.I.T. Science Fiction Society, an organization which is still around today.
It's remarkable to think that these magazines have been kicking around for more than half a century. The lesson is that the digest format for magazines is built to last.
I hope that when I pass on these magazines will find their way to another collector who will take care of them for the generation after to enjoy.
C.X.
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Nice find
Nice find. But I confess that whenever I do run across SF pulp magazines while poking for SF books, I rarely give them a second glance. I know that whats inside made be just as good or even better than the surrounding books, but I fear that if I started picking up these mags, there would be no end to it.
Years ago I had a years subscription to Asimovs (mid 80's). I found that it was hard to keep up with reading it and they seemed to just pile up for the most part. Keep in mind that I was reading SF in book form voraciously at the same time.
I found that while the great stories within the mags were just as good as the great stories in the books, the clunkers were somewhat lesser than their book counterparts. Which is sometimes just the natural selection process that goes into the book selection process.
I liked the MIT angle. I checked out the website. For a fun but confusing peek into the inner going on at the MIT SFS, check out their meeting minutes .
~ Lazarus ~
That's why neither of us was accepted by MIT
If you can follow what is written in those minutes, then you may qualify for acceptance to MIT. Wacky!
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