The Argosy, Vol. 22

This issue of The Argosy predates the pulp era proper, representing the literary magazine tradition from which pulps would directly descend. Founded by Frank Andrew Munsey, The Argosy would transition to wood-pulp paper stock by 1882 and become, by 1896, the first all-fiction pulp magazine — effectively the ancestor of every adventure, science fiction, and weird fiction pulp that followed. This September 1876 number carries no illustrated cover, presenting instead a sober text title page opening Edina, a serial novel by Mrs. Henry Wood. The plain typography and respectable literary serialization reflect its genteel origins; within two decades Munsey would strip away that respectability, flood the pages with genre fiction, and accidentally invent an American publishing revolution.