Canine Covers in honor of National Dog Day

Pick your favorite. Mine's the German Shepherd in the Argosy.

Adventure, July 18, 1919 cover by James Reynolds	Argosy, February 7, 1925 cover by Charles Livingston Bull
Blue Book, February 1934 cover by Joseph C. Chenoweth	The Popular Magazine, March 20, 1916 cover by John A. Coughlin
Short Stories January 10th, 1941 cover by A.R. Tilburne	Western Story Magazine, August 31, 1931 cover by Sidney Riesenberg

Possibly the silliest pulp cover ever to feature a dog
Weird Tales October, 1925 cover by Andrew Brosnatch

Encoded messages in the pulps - Adventure and Detective Story Magazine

Came across this, and thought you might find it interesting.

Encrypted messages exchanged in Detective Story Magazine, solution was found and is in the comments on the blog.

An unsolved encrypted message from a missed person

http://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/2018/03/19/an-unsolved-encrypted-message-from-a-missed-person/

Around 1920, a US pulp magazine published an encrypted message exchange in its “missed persons” column. The cleartexts might refer to a familiy drama. Even two of the world’s greatest codebreakers apparently could not make sense of these cryptograms.

Another encrypted message here, this time in Adventure, July 1934

Encoded message in Adventure, July 1934, Ask Adventure column

http://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/2018/04/22/revisited-an-unsolved-message-from-a-pulp-magazine/

Revisited: An unsolved message from a pulp magazine

In 1934, a US magazine published an encrypted message a reader had found in an old document. The solution is not known to me.

E.B. Mann - Biography of western author

Found a biography of author E.B. Mann while looking for something else. He started his pulp career in 1928 with a story in Ranch Romances, went on to be published in the main Western magazines - Ace-High, Western Story, Wild West Weekly, Dime Western and Star Western. His pulp career ended in 1933 with about 80 stories published in the pulps, and 8 movies based on his stories.

Adventure, January 1937 issue with E.B. Mann story featured on the cover
Image courtesy the FictionMags Index

The following is biographical information from the Camp-Fire column in the Adventure, January 1937 issue where Mann had his only story but getting the cover nevertheless for The Comanche Kid.

...

E. B. Mann makes his first appearance in our magazine—a new member of the Writers’ Brigade which has marched for twenty-six years and included most of the noted American men authors in its ranks. Mann lives in Florida. His story you will judge for yourself, and I hope you will like the people in it as well as I did. Mann makes this introduction of himself to the Camp-Fire circle.

I would have said, if asked, that my life so far had been an interesting one. I’ve found it interesting, and amusing, and even—from time to time—exciting. Yet when I come to setting it down on paper it seems insipid stuff, like last night’s beer. . . . Perhaps it’s asking too much to expect a fictioneer to stick to facts!

I was born in Kansas in 1902; was graduated from Decatur County (Kansas) High School in 1920, and for some time after that I traveled—mostly as a non-paying passenger—from Butte to the Brazos and to and fro. The trails my father had traveled in a covered wagon I traveled in boxcars and in Pullmans, working on ranches here and there, following the wheat harvest, wielding a billiard cue, setting type in various print-shops, earning a little, learning a little. I heard the lingo and the legends of the west from childhood on, and read omnivorously.

I came to Florida with the birth of “The Boom” but I went to college while the other boys sold subdivisions. They made more money than I did, but they lost more too when the bubble burst. I had played football in high school and baseball afterward; in college, I played politics and found the game more fun, if not more profitable.

I arrived in New York City in 1927 and within a month I knew men in scores of fine offices all up and down Manhattan Island. They had said, “No,” when I asked them for jobs. One gentleman finally said, “Yes,” and I became an advertising man.

I sold my first story in March, 1928, and bought an overcoat. I needed it.

Some six months later I said goodbye, with some regrets, to advertising and devoted all my time to the writing of the franker forms of fiction.

Was married in 1928 to Helen Frazier Cubberly.

Children: none.

Recreations: Tennis; shooting.

Hobby: guns.

Ambitions? To live pleasantly; to acquire a backhand drive; to shoot a shotgun as well as I do a pistol; to have a hand in the redemption of the western story from its past and present low estate.

And the article i found, that has a photo and a much longer biography, is here:

https://ochf.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/693/

Pulp Proverbs #2 - A stitch in time saves nine

Message brought to you by Adventure, March 3, 1919 cover by Will Crawford.

Adventure, March 3, 1919 cover by Will Crawford

Swipe or inspiration - you decide

I saw a post on a Facebook group about an artist copying (swiping) a cover from a previous issue of another magazine, and i also heard that it was done many times. I decided to take a deeper look into this, you decide if it's swipe or inspiration. Leave comments with your thoughts.

Shadows at the waterhole (1907) by Frederic Remington vs. Adventure May 15, 1931 by L.F. Wilford

Adventure 1936 May cover  by Walter Baumhofer vs Short Stories Feb 25 1938 by A.R.Tilburne

Adventure March 1 1932 cover by G.C. Delano vs Short Stories December 25 1936 by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure July 1934 cover by Walter Baumhofer vs Short Stories January 10 1937 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure June 1 1931 cover by Remington Schuyler vs Short Stories March 25 1937  cover by A.R. Tilburne

Adventure May 1931 cover by Remington Schuyler vs Short Stories April 25 1937 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure June 1934 cover by Walter Baumhofer vs Short Stories September 25 1937 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure March 1936 cover by Hubert Rogers vs Short Stories April 10 1938 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure November 10 1929 cover by Hubert Rogers vs Short Stories July 25 1938 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure December 15 1930 cover by G.C. Delano vs Short Stories May 10 1939 cover by A.R. Tilburne

Adventure December 1939 cover by Wesley Neff vs Short Stories December 10 1943 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Adventure March 15 1928 cover by Dominic Cammerota vs Short Stories February 10 1946 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Interior illustration for Dusky by Jim Kjelgaard from Short Stories February 10 1946

And this last one has to be unique, the same artist on both sides

Adventure September 1941 cover by A. R. Tilburne vs Short Stories September 10 1944 cover by A. R. Tilburne

Commander Ellsberg's books back in print

Today i had a comment on my three part post on Commander Ellsberg from his grandson, Ted Pollard who runs the Edward Ellsberg website.

Thank you for such a nice post about my grandfather! I have re-published many of his books and am expanding his website www.edwardellsberg.com so that I can add pix and more info. Ted Pollard

I now see almost all of Commander Ellsberg's books back in print (well, ebook form) at Amazon. Links below for your enjoyment (disable ad blocker to see them)

Novels
World War 2
Undersea Salvage

Arthur S. Hoffman - Profile of Fritz Duquesne, adventurer

Fritz Duquesne was an adventurer who wrote some stories for Adventure magazine.

• Sekokoeni’s Raid (ar) Dec 1910
• The Man-Eaters of M’wembi (ar) Jan 1911
• When the Rain Was Red (ss) Sep 1911
• The Fighting Dwarfs of the Congo (ar) Jun 1912
• A Fire-Hunt at Kivu (ar) Dec 1913

Adventurer and Avenger - article about Fritz Duquesne by Arthur S. Hoffman in Adventure magazine, April 1938

He's the subject of the only article written by Arthur S. Hoffman for Adventure magazine in April 1938. It's an interesting profile; Hoffman was a patriot, and Duquesne was so against the British that he actively supported Germany in both World Wars. In spite of being on opposite sides, it seems to me that Hoffman respected Duquesne, even as he didn't agree with him.

The facts may be questioned, the impression from the article is of a man forged hard by tragedy to become an avenger with a tragic life. You can read it here.

Adventure magazine covers featuring a pirate

In honor of International Talk like a Pirate Day today, here's a series of covers from Adventure magazine featuring a pirate. All these covers were done by the artist A.L. Ripley and appeared in the magazine from 1922 to 1925. During at least part of this period (1923-1925), Ripley was in Europe on an art scholarship, so it's interesting to speculate whether these were done in Europe and sent over, or done in bulk earlier and then appeared one at a time.

Pick your favorite and leave a note in the comments. Mine's the March 10, 1924 issue with the two pirates shown in shadow fighting over treasure.

Adventure cover artist - Roy J. Pomeroy

You may remember an earlier article i had done on Notable Artists of Adventure magazine. Among those artists was a Roy Pomeroy, who won the first ever Oscar for Special Effects. I came across some photos of him as well as a very detailed biography of him on a genealogical blog. Thought you might like to read it.

Adventure, January 30, 1922 cover by Roy J. Pomeroy

Embed from Getty Images

Roy J. Pomeroy (picture courtesy Getty Images)

His biography in 2 parts was posted on a blog with genealogical information about Pomeroys in America:

Roy Jobbins Pomeroy, Oscar Winner and Early Hollywood Special Effects Technician: The Life of an Artist

Roy Pomeroy, The life of an Artist Part II: From England to Ohio and New York

It's a comprehensive and interesting profile of a multi-talented man who found a niche at the beginning of the film industry and covers his life from his birth in Colonial India to his death in Los Angeles in 1947.

M. Leone Bracker - illustrator,poster designer

M(ichael) Leone Bracker was the artist who painted the cover illustration for the first issue of Adventure magazine, for the serial novel “Yellow Men and Gold” by the author Gouverneur Morris. He was a prominent magazine and advertising illustrator who was well known for his war poster designs.

Ilustrator M. Leone Bracker c. 1912

Review of Adventure - January 1, 1928

[Inspired by a post on James Reasoner's blog]

Adventure, January 1, 1928 - Cover illustration by Remington Schuyler

 

An issue after Arthur S. Hoffman had left, but at least some of the stories must have been selected by him earlier. Cover by Remington Schuyler with interior illustrations by Ralph Nelson.

Review of Adventure – March, 1940

Inspired by a post on James Reasoner’s Rough Edges blog. Cover by Wesley Neff, interior illustrations by multiple illustrators.

Adventure, March 1940 - cover illustration by Wesley Neff

Adventure - Review of May 15, 1933 issue

[Inspired by a post on True Pulp Fiction]

Adventure, May 15, 1933 - cover illustration

Cover illustration by Walter Whitehead (not for any particular story, the signpost says Gretna Green) and interior artwork by Neil O’Keeffe. This was an issue that had only 96 pages, a big drop from the 192 pages in the 1918-1927 peak of Adventure. But still worth reading with a couple of great stories from Richard Wetjen and Harold Lamb. 

Adventure March 20, 1923 - issue review

Inspired by a post on the True Pulp Fiction blog, here's my review of the March 20, 1923 issue of Adventure magazine.

Adventure March 20, 1923

Cover by James C. McKell, headings by Virgil E. Pyles.
How the heck that guy got into that tight fitting shirt with no buttons, i'll never know.

Adventure's failed experiment in 1927

Earlier on this blog, we've talked about the change in Adventure magazine that took place in 1927 when new owners took over the magazine - the magazine changed from this look:



to this:


The contents of the magazine also changed, a books column was added, there was discussion and reviews of the best outdoor equipment etc. The fiction was kept intact, though.

We've discussed earlier whether this was the cause for Arthur Hoffman's departure from the magazine. Walker Martin (see the comments in the link above) feels that Hoffman was supportive of the move, but left because it failed to improve the business. I felt the new ownership was taking it in a direction that Hoffman didn't want, and that was part of the reason that Hoffman left.

Here's something that I found recently that might help - correspondence between Joseph Cox, the editor who succeeded Hoffman and Horace Kephart, an outdoors expert. Cox wanted Kephart to become a part of the Ask Adventure group of experts who answered readers' queries.

While doing so, he mentions that the new ownership wanted to make Adventure into the "trade journal of all the outdoors". That would probably have meant less fiction and more non-fiction. That change in direction, combined with the drop in readership, was (in my opinion), the reason for Hoffman's departure.

As we know, the magazine's circulation didn't improve and Adventure was back in pulp format in 1927. Joseph Cox left as editor in 1928 and the magazine went downhill until Harold Bloomfield took over as editor in 1934.