 Street & Smith book department in 1906 | |
| Founded | 1855 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Francis Scott Street Francis Shubael Smith |
| Defunct | 1959 |
| Successor | Condé Nast Publications |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | 79 Seventh Avenue,Manhattan |
| Key people | Ormond Gerald Smith |
| Publication types | Paperbacks, Magazines, Comics |
| Nonfiction topics | Sports |
| Fiction genres | Pulp magazines |
Street & Smith orStreet & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to asdime novels andpulp fiction. They also publishedcomic books and sporting yearbooks. Among their many titles was thescience fictionpulp magazineAstounding Stories, acquired from Clayton Magazines in 1933, and retained until 1961. Street & Smith was founded in 1855, and was bought out in 1959. The Street & Smith headquarters were at 79 Seventh Avenue inManhattan; they were designed byHenry F. Kilburn.
Francis Scott Street andFrancis Shubael Smith began their publishing partnership in 1855 when they took over a broken-down fiction magazine.[1] They then bought the existingNew York Weekly Dispatch in 1858. Francis Smith was the company president from 1855 until his 1887 retirement, his sonOrmond Gerald Smith taking over his role.[2] Francis Street died in 1883. Francis Smith died on February 1, 1887. The company, which owned a six-story building at 79 Seventh Avenue (just north of14th Street), became a publisher of inexpensive novels and weekly magazines starting in the 1880s and continuing into 1959. In the early decades of the 20th century, Ormond V. Gould was the company secretary.[3] Ormond Smith remained company president until his death in 1933.[2]
In 1933, Street & Smith bought titles from Clayton Magazines, includingAstounding Stories. In 1934 they put out 35 different magazines, looked after by about a dozen editors, including John Nanovic, Frank Blackwell,Daisy Bacon andF. Orlin Tremaine. The company paid one cent a word, which was standard base rate among the major publishing groups, though fringe publishers paid less. In 1937, Street & Smith discontinued a number of their pulp titles, includingTop-Notch andComplete Stories, the start of a long-term shrinking of their pulp line. In 1938, Allen L. Grammer became president. He had spent more than twenty years as anergonomics expert forCurtis Publishing Company, and made a small fortune inventing a new printing process. He moved the offices into a skyscraper.[1]
Street & Smith published comic books from 1940 to 1949, their most notable titles beingThe Shadow, from their pulp magazine line,Super-Magician Comics,Supersnipe Comics,True Sport Picture Stories,Bill Barnes/Air Ace andDoc Savage Comics, also from the pulp magazine line.
Street & Smith stopped publishing all their pulps and comics, with one exception, in 1949, selling off several of their titles toPopular Publications. Sales had declined with the advent of television.[4] They continued to publishAstounding Science Fiction well into the late 1950s.
Condé Nast Publications, a subsidiary of the Newhouse family'sAdvance Publications, bought the company for more than $3.5 million in 1959.[5][6] The company's name continued to be used on the sports pre-season preview magazines until 2007 when Advance divisionAmerican City Business Journals acquired theSporting News, originallyThe Sporting News, and merged Street & Smith's annuals intoTSN's annuals.
In 2017, American City Business Journals revived the Street & Smith name for its sports annuals, published collectively asStreet & Smith's Yearbooks. Issues are published at the start of each applicable sport's season, with individual issues subtitled to reflect the season and sport, such as:2019 College Football;2020 Fantasy Baseball;2022–23 NBA Preview.
Media related toStreet & Smith at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
