Argosy

Cover of the April 1906 issue
Founder	Frank Munsey
Founded	1882
Final issue	2016

Argosy was an American magazine, founded in 1882 asThe Golden Argosy, a children's weekly, edited byFrank Munsey and published byE. G. Rideout. Munsey took over as publisher when Rideout went bankrupt in 1883, and after many struggles made the magazine profitable. He shortened the title toThe Argosy in 1888 and targeted an audience of men and boys with adventure stories. In 1894 he switched it to a monthly schedule and in 1896 he eliminated all non-fiction and started using cheap pulp paper, making it the firstpulp magazine. Circulation had reached half a million by 1907, and remained strong until the 1930s. The name was changed toArgosy All-Story Weekly in 1920 after the magazine merged withAll-Story Weekly, another Munsey pulp, and from 1929 it became justArgosy.

In 1925 Munsey died, and the publisher, the Frank A. Munsey Company, was purchased byWilliam Dewart, who had worked for Munsey. By 1942 circulation had fallen to no more than 50,000, and after a failed effort to revive the magazine by including sensational non-fiction, it was sold that year toPopular Publications, another pulp magazine publisher. Popular converted it from pulp toslick format, and initially attempted to make it a fiction-only magazine, but gave up on this within a year. Instead it became amen's magazine, carrying fiction and feature articles aimed at men. Circulation soared and by the early 1950s was well over one million.

Early contributors includedHoratio Alger,Oliver Optic, andG. A. Henty. During the pulp era, many famous writers appeared inArgosy, includingO. Henry,James Branch Cabell,Albert Payson Terhune,Edgar Rice Burroughs,Erle Stanley Gardner,Zane Grey,Robert E. Howard, andMax Brand.Argosy was regarded as one of the most prestigious publications in the pulp market, along withBlue Book,Adventure andShort Stories. After the transition to slick format it continued to publish fiction, including science fiction byRobert Heinlein,Arthur Clarke, andRay Bradbury. From 1948 to 1958 it published a series by Gardner called "The Court of Last Resort" which examined the cases of dozens of convicts who maintained their innocence, and succeeding in overturning many of the convictions. NBCadapted the series for television in 1957.

Popular soldArgosy to David Geller in 1972, and in 1978 Geller sold it to theFilipacchi Group, which closed it at the end of the year. The magazine has been revived several times, most recently in 2016.

In the late 1870s,Frank Munsey was working inAugusta, Maine, as the manager of the localWestern Union office. He helped a friend get a job at a publisher in Augusta, and after a couple of years his friend moved to New York City to work for another publishing company. Munsey was becoming more familiar with the publishing industry during this time, and decided he wanted to launch a magazine of his own. He had some difficulty in getting anyone to agree to invest, but eventually persuaded a stockbroker he knew to put in $2,500 ($81,000 in 2024), of which $500 was a loan to Munsey. Munsey invested $500 of his own, and his friend in New York City added another $1,000, making a total of $4,000 ($130,000 in 2024) in capital.^[1][2] Munsey resigned from Western Union, and moved to New York on September 23, 1882, bringing with him manuscripts he had bought for the magazine before leaving Augusta.^[3]

Once in New York, Munsey quickly realized that the cost estimates he had made, based on what he had been able to learn while in Maine, were unrealistically low.^[4][5] His original plan for the magazine had been to make it a close copy ofGolden Days, a weekly paper for children published in Philadelphia byJames Elverson,^[6] and to include lithographed covers and internal illustrations.^[4][5] He abandoned these ideas and came up with a simplified approach, still based onGolden Days, that he believed could be made profitable. He wrote to the stockbroker who had promised $2,500 to get the funds sent to him, but received no reply, and since this made it impossible to start the magazine as planned, Munsey released his New York friend from his promise of investment. This left Munsey with only about $40 ($1,300 in 2024), along with the manuscripts he had in hand, which had cost over $500 to acquire. He began looking for a publisher who would back the new magazine, and eventually persuadedE. G. Rideout to take it on. The first issue, titledThe Golden Argosy, with Munsey as editor and manager, was dated December 9, 1882;^[4][5] it was eight pages long and cost five cents ($1.63 in 2024).^[7] Subscribers were offered a set of coloredchromolithographs along with their subscription.^[4]

Five months later Rideout went bankrupt. Munsey had not drawn all his salary, and Rideout had borrowed money from him as well, so he was owed about $1,000 ($34,000 in 2024) by the bankrupt company. He claimed the magazine's title and subscription list in return for his debt, succeeding over a competing claim from a publisher who would have merged the magazine's subscriptions into those of his own publication.^[8][9][10] The first issue with Munsey as publisher was dated September 8, 1883.^[11] Munsey again was reduced to a few dollars, but he was able to borrow $300 ($10,100 in 2024) from Oscar Holway, a banker in Augusta who was a friend.^[8][9] At about this time he bought some stories from Malcolm Douglas, but when Douglas came to collect his payment Munsey offered him the job of editor, at $10 ($300 in 2024) per week, in lieu of payment for the stories. Douglas accepted.^[8]

A friend from Augusta, John Fogler, who had become cashier of Augusta's First National Bank, was able to arrange another loan for Munsey, of $1,000.^[16] Munsey managed to maintain the regular weekly schedule but the financial pressure on him was enormous.^[17][18] Rideout had set up Munsey in an office on Barclay Street in what is now known asTribeca, in Manhattan; Munsey moved to an office on Warren Street nearby to reduce the rent, and he and Douglas would eat in a German beer saloon where they could get a free lunch. Munsey and Douglas assembled free material by rewriting items from English boys' papers. One week, Douglas was unable to find enough material to fill an issue. Munsey wrote a short story that night: "Harry's Scheme, or Camping Among the Maples", about two boys in the Maine woods, and turned it in to Douglas the next morning.^{[17][13][note 2]} Douglas twice saw Munsey write a letter to Elverson, offering the subscription list ofThe Golden Argosy in return for a job at $50 per week, but Munsey did not mail either letter.^[17][18]

In 1884James Blaine was theRepublican candidate for President. Blaine knew of Munsey from Augusta, and his campaign needed help with publicity: Munsey proposed a new magazine,Munsey's Illustrated Weekly, to carry campaign news. It only lasted two months, from September 6 to November 8, 1884, but it helped Munsey by giving him an official-seeming presence in publishing that made it much easier for him to obtain credit for paper and other supplies.^[20] Before the campaign he had been unable to get credit; after it he was $8,000 ($261,000 in 2024) in debt to his suppliers. Ten years later Munsey recalled the change, and said "That debt made me. Before, I had no credit and had to live from hand to mouth. But when I owed $8,000 my creditors didn't dare drop me. They saw their only chance of getting anything was to keep me going."^[21] Munsey had a bank account in New York, but kept two more, in Maine and Chicago, moving funds between them constantly: "I kept thousands of dollars in the air between these three banks. It was a dizzy, dazzling, daring game, a game to live for, to die for, a royal glorious game".^[22] Munsey told a story of being unable to meet payroll because the New York bank would not give him credit. He went to the bank, upbraided the president for his "effrontery", and left without letting the man speak.^[22] When his employee went to the bank again that day, he was able to cash the payroll check.^[22]

The fact thatThe Golden Argosy never missed an issue also helped Munsey persuade the businesses he worked with to extend him credit, which in turn helped him invest in the business. In the winter of 1885/1886 he wrote aserial,Afloat in a Great City, with the intention of using it as the basis for an advertising campaign to increase subscriptions. Munsey owed $5,000 at this point, and went into debt by about another $10,000 to advertise the story, distributing 100,000 sample copies of the March 13, 1886 issue containing the first installment of the serial in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the surrounding areas. The campaign was a success, and from being a more-or-less breakeven concern,The Golden Argosy began to net Munsey about $100 a week in profit, not counting the cost of the campaign. This convinced Munsey to invest further in building circulation.^[23][24] A new editor,Matthew White, took over from Douglas at the end of the year; White had been the founder and editor ofThe Boys' World, which Munsey bought in 1887,^[8] merging the subscriptions withThe Golden Argosy.^[25][26] At the same time Munsey doubled the page count and increased the price from five cents to six.^[23][27][28] In 1887 he began a national advertising campaign, with traveling representatives as far west as Nebraska, and a mail campaign for points further west.^[24] He wrote another story,The Boy Broker, for serialization, beginning in the February 5, 1887 issue,^[24][29] and credited it with adding 20,000 toThe Golden Argosy's circulation.^[24][30] Over five months the campaign gave away 11,500,000 sample issues: his debt ballooned to $95,000 ($3.33 million in 2024), but he was now clearing $1,500 ($52,000 in 2024) a week in profit, and circulation reached 115,000 in May 1887.^{[24][31][note 3]}

The improvement in Munsey's finances in 1887 was temporary, though before Munsey realized it he had given up his cheap rooms and moved to theWindsor Hotel on Fifth Avenue.^[35] Another advertising campaign was launched; it cost $20,000 ($700,000 in 2024) but produced no results, and Munsey began to experiment with the magazine, trying to find a profitable approach. He shortened the title to justThe Argosy with the December 1, 1888 issue to make it sound more like an adventure magazine and less like a children's paper.^[35][36][15] He later commented that he had not realized the problems attendant on magazines for children—they grew up quickly and dropped their subscriptions, so circulation was very difficult to maintain, and because they had little spending power it was hard to interest advertisers.^[37] He reduced the page size and increased the page count, and added illustrated covers, and cut the price, and then reversed all these changes, but nothing worked.^[35] In 1890 circulation dropped to the point where it no longer covered its own costs.^[38] The expenses Munsey had taken on after the successful campaign in 1887 were now a drain, and when his friend Fogler visited, and was impressed that Munsey was living at the Windsor, he told Fogler, "I can't afford it ... but it is a means to an end. It gives me standing to have the acquaintance of the men I meet here."^[35] Fogler also discovered on that visit that Munsey had a personal pew in a popular church, which cost him $1,000 ($87,000 in 2024) a year.^[35]

Munsey launched two more periodicals, hoping that they would establish themselves as profitable beforeThe Argosy failed completely.^[39] The first wasMunsey's Weekly, launched on February 2, 1889;^[39][40] the second was a newspaper, theDailyContinent, which he took over in February 1891 and gave up on four months later.^[39][41] TheWeekly was not a success either, and in late 1891 Munsey converted it into a monthly,Munsey's Magazine, priced at twenty-five cents ($8.75 in 2024). Fogler, now working for a bank in Kansas, arranged a loan for Munsey that grew to $8,000 ($280,000 in 2024), with half Munsey's stock as collateral. During thePanic of 1893 the bank called in the loan, and Munsey offered Fogler the stock if he would take over the loan. Fogler declined, and Munsey had to arrange for another loan at 18% interest to cover the repayment.^[39] In October 1893 Munsey cut the price ofMunsey's Magazine to ten cents ($3.26 in 2024). He had to struggle to distribute it at this price, since theAmerican News Company had a monopoly on magazine distribution and had little interest in a low-priced magazine. By the February issue Munsey was printing 200,000 copies, and it soon became successful enough to guarantee his financial security.^[42]

The Argosy did not share in the success ofMunsey's Magazine; circulation continued to decline, but Munsey kept it going, as he later said, "as a matter of sentiment", and to see what could be made of it. From a high of 115,000 the circulation fell to 9,000 for the March 24, 1894 issue, which was the last one as a weekly. Munsey switched it to monthly publication with the April issue, and circulation jumped to 40,000 immediately, but went no higher for over two years.^[43] With the October 1896 issue Munsey changed it to carry fiction only, targeted at adults rather than children.^[43][34][12] Starting with the December issue he began printing it on cheap wood-pulp paper,^[43][34] makingThe Argosy the firstpulp magazine.^[33] The all-fiction format brought about another jump in circulation to 80,000.^[43] In 1898, with circulation still at around 80,000, Munsey boughtPeterson's Magazine and merged it intoThe Argosy.^[43][44] A year or so later circulation began to climb again: Munsey spent nothing on advertising, but circulation reached 300,000 in 1902, and hit half a million in 1907, 25 years after it was launched.^[43] The magazine absorbed two other Munsey publications,The Puritan andJunior Munsey, in 1902, and Munsey credited some of the increase in circulation to the mergers.^[45]

The Argosy's circulation fell from this peak, and it returned to a weekly schedule in 1917.^[12][15] In 1906 Munsey had startedThe Railroad Man's Magazine, which carried both fiction and non-fiction; after the January 18, 1919 issue it was merged intoThe Argosy, which was briefly retitledArgosy and Railroad Man's Magazine, reverting to justArgosy with the May 31 issue.^[47][48][49] Paper shortages caused byWorld War I forced a reduction in the page count of bothThe Argosy andAll-Story Weekly, another Munsey fiction magazine, and costs continued to go up after the war. Most of the other major fiction magazines of the day increased their price to twenty cents ($6.28 in 2024). At fifteen cents,Top-Notch Magazine was an exception, but Munsey kept bothArgosy andAll-Story at only ten cents. In 1920 he mergedAll-Story Weekly intoThe Argosy, explaining that this let him keep the price of the combined magazine at ten cents, while saving "all the cost of stories in one magazine, all the cost of the editorial force, all the cost of typesetting, all the cost of making electrotype plates, and many other minor costs".^[50]Sam Moskowitz, a magazine historian, argues that the low price, sustained through most of the 1920s, must have been a strong benefit to circulation, which is reported to have reached half a million when the combined magazine, now titledArgosy All-Story Weekly, debuted. Circulation stayed at about 400,000 during the following decade.^[50] The first issue of the new magazine added pages to allow it to carry continuations of the serials that had been running in each of the two magazines before the merger, and Moskowitz comments that this approach "was such that it is doubtful that a single nonduplicating reader was lost from either magazine".^[50] The page count gradually dropped again as the serials were completed, from 224 after the merger to 144 at the end of the year.^[50]

In December 1925 Munsey had appendicitis, and never recovered; he died, aged 71, on December 22.^[51] The Frank A. Munsey Corporation, which continued as the publisher, was sold toWilliam Dewart, who had been working for Munsey.^[52] Matthew White, who had been editor since 1886, was finally replaced byA. H. Bittner in 1928. Bittner stayed as editor for three years; and his successors throughout the 1930s each lasted between one and three years.^[12] In October 1929Munsey's Magazine andArgosy All-Story Weekly were combined and immediately split again into two magazines: one was titledAll-Story Combined with Munsey's, and the other continued asArgosy.^[53][47]

In 1932Don Moore, who had become editor in July 1931,^[54][55] bought two stories from Frank Morgan Mercer that turned out to have been copied from earlier stories byH. Bedford-Jones andJames Francis Dwyer. Up to this pointArgosy paid on acceptance; because of theplagiarism the policy was changed to pay new authors only after publication, to allow plagiarism to be detected.^{[56][57][58][note 4]}

Moore left to work atCosmopolitan in mid-1934, and was replaced by Frederick Clayton, who had been associate editor.^[59] In 1936 Clayton was hired byLiberty, and Jack Byrne, who had been working atFiction House, took over as editor for a year before being replaced by Chandler Whipple.^[60][61] Another Munsey magazine,All-American Fiction, was merged intoArgosy in 1938.^[62][47] In 1939 Whipple resigned and George Post, who had been part of Whipple's editorial team, became editor.^[63][64]

Argosy remained a weekly until the October 4, 1941 issue, then switched to an irregular schedule with two issues a month.^[65] Post left in early 1942, and was briefly replaced by Harry Gray and then for two issues by Burroughs Mitchell.^[46][66][12]

In September 1942Popular Publications, a pulp magazine publisher, bought all the Munsey pulp magazine titles from Dewart, includingArgosy,^[67][68] which by this time had a circulation of only 40,000 to 50,000.^{[69][note 5]} The new editor wasRogers Terrill.Argosy ceased to use pulp paper from 1943, becoming aslick magazine.^[73][74] In early 1944Harry Steeger, the owner of Popular, took over the editorship for five years,^[12] hiring Jerry Mason away fromThis Week in 1949 to replace himself as editor.^[12][75] Mason stayed for four years; when he left in mid-1953 Howard Lewis was promoted to editor from executive editor.^[76][77] Lewis resigned in 1954,^[78] and was replaced for one issue (October 1954) by James O'Connell,^[12] who had been fiction editor of Argosy since 1948.^[79]Ken Purdy, the editor ofArgosy's main rival,True, was hired,^[70][71][78] but stayed less than a year.^[12] Steeger later said that hiring Purdy was the most expensive mistake he ever made;Argosy ran at a substantial loss under his editorship.^[80] Steeger then took the editing chair again.^[12][75] Circulation prospered under Popular, reaching 600,000 in June 1948, and 1.25 million by 1954.^[71][72] This growth was aided by some lucky publicity, broadcast to millions of radio listeners: after the acquisition by Popular,Argosy was the subject of a question on the popularTake It or Leave It radio show, which referred to it as a pulp magazine. Two weeks later the show's host apologized, and asked the studio audience to chant "Argosy is a slick" on the air.^[72][81]

Argosy's circulation remained over a million until at least 1973,^[70][82] and the advertising revenue this provided made the magazine an attractive acquisition target.^[83] Steeger sold Popular Publications to David Geller's Brookside Publications in 1972.^[83][84] In early January 1978 Geller sold the company to theFilipacchi Group.^[83][85][86] The last issue from Popular was dated November/December 1978.^[73]

In addition to the monthly issues, between 1975 and 1978Argosy published about fifty special issues on specific topics such as sharks, basketball, guns, or treasure hunting. There were also two associated magazines:Argosy UFO appeared in July 1976 and ceased publication with its eighth issue, dated Winter 1977/1978.Argosy Gun produced four issues dated from Fall 1977 and Summer 1978, and may have published more.^[47]

Argosy has been revived four times. Four monthly issues appeared starting in August 1979, published by Lifetime Wholesalers, Inc. The last issue was dated November 1979.^[12][73] Between 1989 and 1994, six issues were produced by Richard Kyle, at irregular intervals.^[87] Three more issues, dated in 2004 and 2005, appeared fromLou Anders andJames A. Owen, with the third issue edited by Owen alone, and retitledArgosy Quarterly. One more issue, from Altus Press, appeared in 2016,^[12][87] edited by Matthew Moring.^[88]

The first issue ofThe Golden Argosy included the first installment of two novels:Do and Dare, or a Brave Boy's Fight for a Fortune, byHoratio Alger, which took the cover page, andNick and Nellie, or God Helps them that Helps Themselves, byEdward S. Ellis. There were also short stories and some non-fiction. The target audience was both boys and girls, from ten to twenty years old.^[89][15] When Munsey began to write serialized novels for the magazine, starting withAfloat in a Great City in 1886, he used the same basic plot that Alger had been successful with: rags to riches stories of boys succeeding against the odds.^[17] Other early serials were boys' adventure tales, occasionally withscience fiction ideas such aslost races. Multiple serials often ran simultaneously.^[12] Early contributors includedHarry Castlemon, whoseDon Gordon's Shooting-Box began serialization in the March 3, 1883 issue;^[15][90]Frank H. Converse, who in addition to an early serial (A Voyage to the Gold Coast, or Jack Bond's Quest, beginning in the March 24, 1883 issue) had several short stories in the first couple of years of the magazine;^[15][91]Oliver Optic, (Making a Man of Himself, beginning in the October 20, 1883 issue);^[15][92] andG. A. Henty (Facing Peril: A Tale of the Coal Mines, from September 5, 1885).^[15][93]

The magazine's subtitle,Freighted with Treasures for Boys and Girls, was dropped in 1886, though the contents were still aimed at the same youthful readers as before.^[15]P. T. Barnum'sDick Broadhead: a Story of Wild Animals and the Circus was serialized from May to August 1887.^[15][94] There was little science fiction in the early years; one exception wasThe Conquest of the Moon, byAndre Laurie, which began serialization inThe Argosy in 1889;^[34] another was William Murray Graydon'sThe River of Darkness; or, Under Africa (1890). "When the Redcoats Came to Bennington", an early story byUpton Sinclair, appeared in the December 1895 issue.^[15][95]

After the change to an all-fiction monthly format in 1896,The Argosy was a men's and boy's adventure magazine,^[15] thoughThe Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes many of the serials in the first decade or so after the change as "still only a little above juvenile adventure stories".^[12] In 1926,Albert William Stone, a fairly prolific pulp author, visitedManhattan to meet with the editors of the various magazines he had been selling to, and find out more about what their requirements were for submissions.^[96] Stone had sold several stories toBob Davis, the editor ofAll-Story Weekly, before its merger withThe Argosy, but had never sold to Matthew White, who had been editor ofThe Argosy since before the change to pulp format.^[97][12] White had sent Stone an encouraging note in reply to an early submission of his: "Two things I like about this story are its Western atmosphere, and its brevity—two thousand five hundred words ... If those hints are of any value to you, try us again."^[97] In the interview with Stone, White expanded upon what he was looking for. "I require yarns ... that violate the traditions relative to 'logical development'. By this I mean that I do not want the story developed in what is commonly called the 'natural' way. I requireunexpected development—surprises at every turn it is possible to have them without destroying the convincingness of the story ... In other words, stories that are a constant challenge to the author's inventive ability, one situation after another, and that keep the writer perspiring freely."^[98]

Ed Hulse, a historian of pulp magazines, while generally praising the quality of the fiction inArgosy during the pulp era, comments that during the 1920s some "bland, conventional dramas" appeared in the magazine, by writers such asEdgar Franklin,Isabel Ostrander, andE. J. Rath. Hulse suggests that this editorial policy was aimed at attracting more women readers to the magazine.^[99]

After White's editorship, and for the next fifteen years, the requirements thatArgosy's editors sent to writers' magazines such asWriter's Digest andAuthor & Journalist emphasized that they were looking for stories focused on action, with a masculine point of view. Bittner's comments in 1928 asked for "any good clean story with sound plot, rapid-fire action and strong masculine appeal", and gave a long list of genres all of which were acceptable—even romance so long as "the love element is not unduly stressed".^[100] In 1931 Moore outlined the stories to be excluded: "love or domestic tales, sex stories, stories with a predominant woman interest or told from a woman’s viewpoint".^[101] In 1935 Clayton provided a list of hackneyed plots to be avoided, including escaping convicts, an underwater adventure in which the hero fights an octopus and a giant clam as well as the villain, and a legionnaire who "dies gloriously for Dear Old France".^[102] The policy of action stories told from a male viewpoint continued through the rest of the decade.^[103]

Many writers who later became well-known sold toThe Argosy early in their careers.William MacLeod Raine's first story, "The Luck of Eustace Blount", appeared in the March 1899 issue.^[104][105]William Wallace Cook contributed numerous serials in the first decade of the 20th century, beginning withThe Spur of Necessity in the September 1900 issue after half-a-dozen sales to other markets.^[106][107] Cook wrote adventure fiction with elements of satire, an unusual combination for the pulps.^[108]James Branch Cabell's first sale was toThe Argosy; his "An Amateur Ghost" appeared in the February 1902 issue.^[109][110]William Hamilton Osborne's first sale was also toThe Argosy, but after paying for it White returned the story to Osborne as the plot was too similar to other stories that had appeared elsewhere. It did eventually appear in the New YorkDaily News, but Osborne's first appearance in print was inThe Argosy with "Turner's Luck with Rouge et Noir", in the September 1902 issue.^[111][112]Louis Joseph Vance, the creator of the characterThe Lone Wolf, published most of his fiction inThe Popular Magazine, but his first two sales were to Munsey, includingThe Coil of Circumstance, a serial that began in the November 1903Argosy.^[113][114]Albert Payson Terhune, later the author ofLad: A Dog, frequently published in the Munsey magazines early in his career.^[115][116] His first sale toThe Argosy was "The Fugitive", a novella that began serialization in the August 1905 issue, and he sold a dozen more stories to the magazine over the next few years.^[115] An early story byMary Roberts Rinehart, "The Misadventures of a Pearl Necklace", appeared in February the following year.^[117]

The first pulp issue, in December 1896, included a science fiction story, "Citizen 504", by C. H. Palmer, and science fiction featured regularly thereafter.^[34] Five science fiction adventure novels by William Wallace Cook appeared, starting in 1903 withA Round Trip to the Year 2000, or A Flight Through Time. Lost race stories continued to appear, such asFrank Aubrey'sA Queen of Atlantis (1899), Frank Savile'sBeyond the Great South Wall (1899–1900),^[12] andPerley Poore Sheehan'sThe Abyss of Wonders (1915), described by Hulse as "arguably the finest lost race novel ever to appear in a Munsey magazine".^[118]Francis Stevens contributed another lost world novel,The Citadel of Fear, in 1918.^[118]

Humorous stories about scientific inventions were another theme.^[12] Howard Rogert Garis began selling toArgosy in 1904; his "Professor Jonkin" stories were lighthearted examples of the genre,^[119] and other examples came from H.D. Smiley, whose "Bagley's Coagulated Cyclone" and "Bagley's Rain-Machine" appeared in the September 1906 and February 1907 issues.^[120][121] Some more sophisticated science fiction also appeared, including "Finis", an end of the world story byFrank Lillie Pollock, in June 1906.^[12][122]George Griffith, an important early science fiction writer from the UK, published almost none of his work in the US in his lifetime. An exception wasThe Lake of Gold, serialized inThe Argosy from December 1902 to July 1903, in which a group of Britons and Americans use the riches from a lake of gold inPatagonia to enforce peace across Europe.^{[123][124][note 6]}

The Argosy's sister magazine,All-Story Weekly, was the venue for most of the science fiction in the Munsey magazines, butArgosy printedMurray Leinster's first science fiction story, "The Runaway Skyscraper", in 1919.^{[12][note 7]} Leinster's first sale, "The Atmosphere", had appeared inThe Argosy the previous year.^[128]Edgar Rice Burroughs'sBarsoom series had begun inAll-Story Weekly, as had hisTarzan novels; when the two magazines merged in 1920 later episodes of each series appeared in the combined magazine,Argosy All-Story Weekly.^[129]Abraham Merritt'sThe Metal Monster began serialization in the August 7 issue, the third one after the merger,^[12][130] and many more science fiction and fantasy stories followed in the next two decades by authors such asRay Cummings,Ralph Milne Farley,Otis Adelbert Kline,Victor Rousseau,Eando Binder,Donald Wandrei,Manly Wade Wellman,Jack Williamson,Arthur Leo Zagat, andHenry Kuttner.^[12][34] Merritt'sThe Ship of Ishtar, which was serialized in 1924, was votedArgosy's most popular story in a reader poll in 1938.^[34][131] In 1940 and 1941Frederick C. Painton published a series of stories inArgosy about Joel Quaite, a time detective who travels into the past to solve mysteries.^[132]

Erle Stanley Gardner, later famous for hisPerry Mason detective stories, sold "Rain Magic", his first science fiction short story, toArgosy in 1928, and went on to write several more. Gardner combined science fiction with detective plots in some of these stories, and he was not the only writer to do so:Garret Smith's "You've Killed Privacy!" in the July 7, 1928Argosy was about usingCCTV to catch criminals, and Leinster's "Darkness on Fifth Avenue", in the November 30, 1929Argosy, about a device that can bring artificial darkness to an area, was originally intended for the detective pulps.^[133]

Argosy'sWestern fiction includedZane Grey'sLast of the Duanes, which appeared in the September 1914Argosy,^[134] andWalt Coburn's first story, "The Peace Treaty of the Seven Up", in the July 8, 1922 issue.^[135][136]Max Brand, a very prolific Western writer, sold his first pulp stories toAll-Story in 1917, but by the end of the year had begun selling toArgosy too.^[137][138]Clarence Mulford was the creator of the characterHopalong Cassidy; the first few stories in the series appeared in other magazines, but many were published inArgosy in the early 1920s.^[139][118]Robert E. Howard, best known for his stories aboutConan the Barbarian, also wrote Westerns, several of which were published inArgosy in the mid-1930s.^[140]

O. Henry appeared in the March 1904Argosy with "Witches Loaves".^[141]H. Bedford-Jones, a popular author with over 1,000 stories published in the pulps over his career, sold his first story, "Out of a Stormy Sky", toThe Argosy in 1910, and appeared in its pages regularly for the next four decades.^[118][142] Bedford-Jones's series about adventurer John Solomon began withThe Gate of Farewell, serialized in the January and February 1914 issues, and continued inThe Argosy and elsewhere for over twenty years.^[118][143]George Worts published the first of his "Peter the Brazen" series, about an "expert wireless operator and dauntless adventurer", inArgosy in the October 5, 1918 issue; it became one of the most popular series in the magazine, with all twenty stories appearing inArgosy into the mid-1930s.^[144][145] Under his own name and a pseudonym, Loring Brent, Worts contributed scores of other stories toArgosy over the same period.^[145][146]Johnston McCulley had launched hisZorro series inAll-Story in 1919 and more episodes appeared inArgosy after the two magazines merged.^[147]

Fred MacIsaac, one ofArgosy's most popular authors, first appeared in the November 1, 1924 issue with the first installment of his novelNothing but Money. Most of MacIsaac's work was not science fiction; an exception wasThe Hothouse World, a serial that ran inArgosy from February 21 to March 28, 1931.^[148][149]Theodore Roscoe was a frequent contributor of adventure stories set in exotic locations such asTimbuktu andSaigon. He traveled the world once his writing began to pay him well enough to allow him to do so, and used the experience to add color to his stories.^[150]Borden Chase sold his first story, "Tunnel Men", toArgosy in 1934 while he was a laborer on the tunnel being built under theEast River in New York. He became a regular contributor, and his "East River", which appeared inArgosy in December 1934, was filmed the following year asUnder Pressure.^[151]Ship of the Line, an early novel inC. S. Forester's stories aboutHoratio Hornblower, was serialized in Argosy in early 1938.^[152][153] Max Brand, though best known for his Westerns, wrote in many other genres as well, including historical fiction and mystery stories. He was the creator ofDr. Kildare, and four novels in the series appeared inArgosy between 1938 and 1940.^[153][154] Mystery contributors includedCornell Woolrich, beginning with "Hot Water" in the December 28, 1935 issue,^[155][156] andNorbert Davis.^[157]

In 1903 Street & Smith launchedThe Popular Magazine, an early pulp rival toThe Argosy with color art on the cover. Up to this pointThe Argosy had had text only on the cover, and no art, but in 1905, probably in response toThe Popular Magazine, it began to run limited color art on the cover, and in 1912 it began to use full-color cover art.^[158] At the start of the 1920s the most frequent cover artists forArgosy wereModest Stein,Stockton Mulford, andP. J Monahan; by the end of the decadePaul Stahr andRobert Graef had taken over most of the covers, and remained the main cover artists until the mid-1930s. Hulse considers the artwork of this era to have been "consistently good".^[148] Towards the end of the 1930sRudolph Belarski,Emmett Watson, andGeorge Rozen become regular cover artists.^[153]

Virgil Finlay was a popular illustrator for the Munsey magazines at the end of the 1930s and start of the 1940s. WhenArgosy planned to reprintSeven Footprints to Satan, one of A. Merritt's novels, in 1939, Merritt persuaded the editor, G. W. Post, to use Finlay as the interior illustrator.^[159][160]

In 1942, in an attempt to revive the magazine's fortunes, the all-fiction format was abandoned and articles aboutWorld War II and "sensationalized" news stories were added.^[33][161] The cover was redesigned starting with the March 7, 1942, issue, with the outline of a jet plane replacing thegalleon behind the title, and a picture of the film starDorothy Lamour on the cover instead of the usual adventure-themed cover art.^[161] The title was changed toThe New Argosy, though this change was reversed with the August issue.^[12][65] The publication frequency was changed to monthly starting in May.^[65]

The new version ofArgosy was almost immediately caught in a crackdown byFrank Walker, thePostmaster General. The Post Office declared that publishers should consider "decency and good morals" in deciding what could be included in a mailed magazine, and promptly notified dozens of publishers that they had to attend a hearing in Washington or lose their permits.Argosy's citation from the Post Office listed stories considered to be obscene; the list includedThe G-String Murders, a serial by Rose Louise Hovick (better known as theburlesque performerGypsy Rose Lee) that began in May 1942, and "How Paris Apaches Terrorize Nazis in Girl Orgies" and "Sex Outrages by Jap Soldiers", articles in the July and August 1942 issues.^[162] The hearings were thought by most publishers to be pointless, and nobody from Munsey attended.Argosy briefly lost its permit as a result,^{[163][note 8]} but did not miss any issues.^[65]

When Popular Publications acquiredArgosy at the end of 1942, they announced that it would immediately return to a fiction-only format.^[164] Richard Abbott, the editor ofWriter's Digest, commented that Popular were "again makingArgosy the fine old book it was", and that when they acquiredArgosy it had "recently been degraded by wretched editing".^[165] In September 1943, the format changed from pulp to slick, but Popular still planned to print only fiction. Rogers Terrill, the editor, announced that "we have stepped out of the pulp field entirely ... We felt there was room in the country for an all-fiction slick, and we're it."^[74][166]

By the end of 1943, the policy had changed back to include feature articles again as well as fiction.^[167][168] This madeArgosy a competitor with slick generalmen's magazines such asTrue.^[74] The publisher, Harry Steeger, later explained the reason for the change of focus, arguing that women had been the primary target for advertisers before World War II, but afterwards "new buying pursuits were adopted by the male and it began to be recognized by the advertising agencies that the male was an individual to be reckoned with in the purchase of all types of products ...".^[74] The non-fiction material was mostly written in-house; in 1950Argosy rejected over 99% of the unsolicited non-fiction manuscripts it received.^[169]

AfterArgosy was acquired by Popular Publications, less science fiction appeared for a couple of years. Exceptions included some ofWalter R. Brooks'Mr. Ed stories. The late 1940s saw more science fiction again, with stories byNelson Bond,A. Bertram Chandler, andRobert A. Heinlein, whose "Gentlemen, Be Seated!" appeared in the May 1948 issue, and in the 1950sArgosy published work byRay Bradbury,Arthur C. Clarke, andPhilip José Farmer. In 1977 one ofArgosy's special issues was devoted to science fiction; the stories in it were all reprinted from Popular'sSuper Science Stories, rather than from earlier issues ofArgosy.^[12]

In September 1948 Erle Stanley Gardner began a true-crime column inArgosy called "The Court of Last Resort".^[170] Gardner enlisted assistance from professional experts to examine the cases of dozens of convicts who maintained their innocence after their appeals were exhausted. The column ran for ten years, ending in October 1958, and wasadapted for television as a 26-episode series byNBC. Many of the convictions were eventually overturned.^[171][75]

John Clute, discussing the American pulp magazines in the first two decades of the twentieth century, has describedThe Argosy and its companionThe All-Story as "the most important pulps of their era."^[172] In the era before the Second World War,Argosy was regarded as one of the "Big Four" pulp magazines, along withBlue Book,Adventure andShort Stories.^[173][174] In the early 1960s Theodore Peterson, a magazine historian, considered the slick incarnation ofArgosy, along withTrue, to be "the best magazines of their kind".^[70] Peterson suggests that it was the success of these two magazines that led to the expansion of the men's magazine market during the 1950s.^[70]

Argosy's title changed many times, either in an attempt to attract more readers, or because of mergers with other magazines.^[175]

The long history ofArgosy meant that by the 1930s there were many stories readers had heard of but could no longer obtain. In response to reader requests, Munsey launchedFamous Fantastic Mysteries in 1939 to reprint old stories from bothArgosy andAll-Story Weekly. The following year Munsey launchedFantastic Novels, another reprint magazine, to make longer stories available without needing to serialize them inFamous Fantastic Mysteries.Fantastic Novels lasted only five issues before being discontinued in 1941, butFamous Fantastic Mysteries lasted for 81 issues, ceasing publication with the June 1953 issue.^[177][178] Popular brought backFantastic Novels for another 20 issues between 1948 and 1951, and also produced five issues ofA. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, also as a reprint venue for stories from the old Munsey magazines, between 1949 and 1950.^[178][179]

In 1976 Popular published two anthology magazines of stories, mostly science fiction and fantasy, titledThe Best of Argosy Annual, though only some of the stories included had originally appeared inArgosy.^[49] A collection of science fiction stories from the early years ofThe Argosy was edited by Gene Christie and published in 2010, titledThe Space Annihilator and Other Early Science Fiction From the Argosy.^[12]

There was a Canadian reprint edition; the first and last known issues were dated April 21, 1924, and July 1960.^[49]

• Works originally published inArgosy

• Abbott, Richard (December 1942)."Editor's note".Writer's Digest.XXIII (2): 6.
• Anonymous (November 29, 1882)."Home Personals: Here and There About Home Folks".Sun-Journal. Lewiston, Maine. p. 3.
• Anonymous (December 31, 1925)."Museum Gets Bulk of Munsey Estate; Papers to be Sold".The New York Times. pp. 1, 5.
• Anonymous (July 1931)."The Author & Journalist's Literary Market Tips Gathered Monthly from Authoritative Sources".The Author & Journalist.16 (3):18–24.
• Anonymous (August 1934)."The Author & Journalist's Literary Market Tips Gathered Monthly from Authoritative Sources".The Author & Journalist.19 (8):16–20.
• Anonymous (July 1937)."Writer's Market".Writer's Digest.XVII (8):56–64.
• Anonymous (January 5, 1942)."A Recommissioned Argosy".Newsweek.XIX (1): 50.
• Anonymous (September 28, 1942)."Advertising News".The New York Times.
• Anonymous (July 1943)."'You'll Be Sorry!': The 'Take It or Leave It' audience acclaims the sixty-four dollar question"(PDF).Tune In. pp. 23–25.
• Anonymous (August 23, 1943)."All-Fiction Slick".Newsweek.XXII (8): 91.
• Anonymous (September 1943)."Writer's Market".Writer's Digest.XXIII (7): 7.
• Anonymous (June 14, 1948)."The Golden Fleece".Newsweek.XXXI (24): 61.
• Anonymous (September 19, 1949)."For Men Only".Newsweek.XXXIV (12): 58.
• Anonymous (May 1953)."New York Market Letter".Writer's Digest.33 (6):42–49.
• Anonymous (May 17, 1954)."New Argosy Crew".Newsweek.XLIII (20): 62.
• Anonymous (June 1954)."NYC Markets Popping Hot and Cold Stop Big News at Both Ends!".Writer's Digest.34 (7):13–23.
• Ashley, Mike (1985). "The Argosy and All-Story". In Tymn, Marshall B. & Ashley, Mike (eds.).Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press. pp. 103–108.ISBN 0-313-21221-X.
• Ashley, Mike (2000).The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the beginning to 1950. Liverpool:Liverpool University Press.ISBN 0-85323-865-0.
• Barbas, Samantha (December 1, 2018)."The Esquire Case: A Lost Free Speech Landmark".William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal.27 (2):287–361.
• Bedford-Jones, H. (December 1932)."The Plagiarist".Writer's Digest.XIII (1):35–36.
• Bittner, A.H. (July 1928)."The Writer's Market: Literary Publications: Argosy All-Story Weekly".Writer's Digest.VIII (8): 39, 42.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (May 1936)."New York Market Notes".Writer's Digest.XVI (6):20–23.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (March 1937)."New York Market Notes".Writer's Digest.XVII (4):19–23.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (June 1939)."New York Market Letter".Writer's Digest.19 (7):35–37,48–49.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (July 1939)."New York Market Letter".Writer's Digest.19 (8):17–22.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (March 1942)."New York and Boston Market Letters".Writer's Digest.XXII (4):26–31.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (December 1943)."New York Market Letters".Writer's Digest.XXIV (1):20–24,61–62.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (September 1942)."New York Market Letter".Writer's Digest.XXII (10):13–18.
• Bradfield, Harriet A. (September 1948)."New York Market Letter".Writer's Digest.28 (10):40–45.
• Britt, George (1972) [1935].Forty Years—Forty Millions. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press.ISBN 0-8046-1513-6.
• Byrne, John F. (March 1937)."Writer's Market: Pulp Paper Magazines: Argosy".Writer's Digest.XVII (4): 60.
• Deutsch, Keith Alan (2010). "Introduction". In Penzler, Otto (ed.).The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories. San Diego, California:Vintage Books. pp. xi–xix.ISBN 978-0-307-45543-7.
• Clareson, Thomas D. (1985a). "Famous Fantastic Mysteries". In Tymn, Marshall B. & Ashley, Mike (eds.).Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press. pp. 211–216.ISBN 0-313-21221-X.
• Clareson, Thomas D. (1985b). "Fantastic Novels". In Tymn, Marshall B. & Ashley, Mike (eds.).Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press. pp. 241–244.ISBN 0-313-21221-X.
• Clute, John (1995).Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York:Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.ISBN 0-7894-0185-1.
• Compaine, Benjamin M. (1982).The Business of Consumer Magazines. Purchase, New York: Knowledge Industry Publications.ISBN 978-0-86729-020-2.
• Cox, J. Randolph (2000).The Dime Novel Companion: A Source Book. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-25674-8.
• Deutsch, Keith Alan (2010). "Introduction". In Penzler, Otto (ed.).The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories. San Diego, California:Vintage Books. pp. xi–xix.ISBN 978-0-307-45543-7.
• Dougherty, Philip H. (October 25, 1977)."Advertising: Challenging the F.T.C.'s Taboos".The New York Times. p. 74.
• Dougherty, Philip H. (January 13, 1978)."Advertising: Publishers and Revenues".The New York Times. p. 74.
• Ellis, Douglas (2017a). "Introduction: The Birth of the Pulps". In Ellis, Douglas; Hulse, Ed & Weinberg, Robert (eds.).The Art of the Pulps: An Illustrated History. San Diego, California: Elephant Book Company. pp. 8–11.ISBN 978-1-68405-091-8.
• Freeman, Nick (2016). "Cabell, James Branch". In Hughes, William; Punter, David & Smith, Andrew (eds.).The Encyclopedia of the Gothic. Chichester, UK:John Wiley and Sons Ltd. pp. 103–105.ISBN 978-1-119-06460-2.
• Hardin, Nils (July 1977). "An Interview with Henry Steeger".Xenophile (33):3–18.
• Hulse, Ed (2013).The Blood 'N' Thunder Guide to Pulp Fiction. Morris Plains, New Jersey: Murania Press.ISBN 978-1-4910-1093-8.
• Ingham, John N. (1983).Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders: Volume 2. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-23908-8.
• Lewis, Howard J. (May 1953)."Letter".Writer's Digest.33 (6): 1.
• Litvag, Irving (1977).The Master of Sunnybank, a Biography of Albert Payson Terhune. New York:Harper & Row.ISBN 978-0-06-126350-7.
• Mayer, Geoff (2012).Historical Dictionary of Crime Films. Lanham, Maryland:The Scarecrow Press.ISBN 978-0-8108-6769-7.
• Moonan, Willard (1990). "Argosy". In Nourie, Alan; Nourie, Barbara (eds.).American Mass-Market Magazines. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press. pp. 29–32.ISBN 0-313-25254-8.
• Moore, Don (July 1931)."Letter".Writer's Digest.XI (8): 5.
• Moore, Don (July 1932)."The Writer's Market: General, Literary and Fiction: Argosy".Writer's Digest.XII (8): 54.
• Moore, Don (February 1933)."Letter".Writer's Digest.XIII (3): 47.
• Moring, Matthew (Fall 2016)."Masthead".Argosy.389 (5): 2.ISBN 9781618272843.
• Moskowitz, Sam (1968). "Introduction: A History of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891–1911". In Moskowitz, Sam (ed.).Science Fiction by Gaslight: A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891–1911. Cleveland, Ohio: The World Publishing Company. pp. 15–50.OCLC 1330798369.
• Moskowitz, Sam (1970). "A History of the Scientific Romance in the Munsey Magazines, 1912–1920". In Moskowitz, Sam (ed.).Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of the Scientific Romance in the Munsey Magazines, 1912–1920. New York:Holt, Rinehart and Winston. pp. 289–433.ISBN 0-03-081858-3.
• Moskowitz, Sam (1974) [1966].Seekers of Tomorrow. Westport, Connecticut:Hyperion.ISBN 0-88355-158-6.
• Moskowitz, Sam (1976).Strange Horizons. New York:Charles Scribner's Sons.ISBN 0-684-14774-2.
• Mott, Frank Luther (1957a).A History of American Magazines: 1850–1865. Cambridge Massachusetts:Harvard University Press.OCLC 867369705.
• Mott, Frank Luther (1957b).A History of American Magazines: 1885–1905. Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press.OCLC 228067774.
• Munsey, Frank A. (May 1898)."Getting On In Journalism".Munsey's Magazine.19 (2):214–224.
• Munsey, Frank A. (October 1902)."Impressions by the Way".Munsey's Magazine.XXVIII (1):153–155.
• Munsey, Frank A. (1907).The Story of the Founding and Development of the Munsey Publishing-House. New York:The De Vinne Press.OCLC 7003678.
• Osborne, William Hamilton (1921). "William Hamilton Osborne". In Burgess, Gelett (ed.).My Maiden Effort: Being the Personal Confessions of Well-known American Authors as to Their Literary Beginnings. Garden City, New York:Doubleday, Page & Company. pp. 185–188.OCLC 407763.
• Peterson, Theodore (1972) [1964].Magazines in the Twentieth Century (2nd ed.). Urbana, Illinois:University of Illinois Press.ISBN 0-252-72537-9.
• Raine, William MacLeod (1921). "William MacLeod Raine". In Burgess, Gelett (ed.).My Maiden Effort: Being the Personal Confessions of Well-known American Authors as to Their Literary Beginnings. Garden City, New York:Doubleday, Page & Company. pp. 200–201.OCLC 407763.
• Sanders, Joe (1985). "A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine". In Tymn, Marshall B. & Ashley, Mike (eds.).Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press. pp. 3–6.ISBN 0-313-21221-X.
• Server, Lee (1993).Danger is My Business. San Francisco:Chronicle Books.ISBN 0-8118-0112-8.
• Server, Lee (2002).Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers. New York: Checkmark Books.ISBN 0-8160-4578-X.
• Stone, Albert William (2007). "Meeting the Editors in Person". In Locke, John (ed.).Pulpwood Days Volume 1: Editors You Want to Know. Elkhorn, California: Off-Trail Publications. pp. 15–53.ISBN 978-0-9786836-2-7.
• Terrill, Rogers (December 1942)."Letter".Writer's Digest.XXIII (2): 6.
• Thomas, Ward (October 1935)."Mice or Men?".Writer's Digest.XV (11):31–35.
• Weinberg, Robert (1988).A Biographical Dictionary of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-24349-2.
• Whitman, Alden (April 28, 1970)."Gypsy Rose Lee Memorial Service Tomorrow".The New York Times. p. 41. RetrievedNovember 13, 2023.
• Whipple, Chandler (July 1939)."Letter".Writer's Digest.19 (8): 2.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toArgosy (magazine).

• The Golden Argosy (1882–1888) at theHathiTrust
• The Argosy (1888–1920) at theHathiTrust
• Argosy All-Story Weekly (1920–1929) at theHathiTrust

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