The All-Story Magazine was a pulp magazine founded in 1905 and published by Frank Munsey. The editor was Robert H. Davis; Thomas Newell Metcalf also worked as a managing editor for the magazine. It was published monthly until March 1914, and then switched to a weekly schedule. Munsey merged it with The Cavalier, another of his pulp magazines, in May 1914, and the title changed to All-Story Cavalier Weekly for a year. In 1920, it was merged with Munsey's Argosy; the combined magazine was retitled Argosy All-Story Weekly.
Many well-known writers appeared in All-Story, including the mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart and the Western writer Max Brand. The magazine's most famous contributor was Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose first sale, Under the Moons of Mars, appeared in All-Story in 1912. This was the start of his Barsoom science fiction series set on Mars; the next three novels in the series also appeared in All-Story. In 1912, All-Story printed Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes, and more stories of Tarzan followed, along with two installments of another of Burroughs's series, about Pellucidar, a land inside the Earth. The first appearance of Zorro, the vigilante, was in All-Story in 1919, in Johnston McCulley's novel The Curse of Capistrano. Many other science fiction and fantasy stories appeared over the life of the magazine. Starting in 1939, some of the stories from All-Story were included in Famous Fantastic Mysteries and Fantastic Novels, both of which were created as vehicles for reprints from the Munsey magazines.
Publication history Issue data for All-Story from 1905 to 1914JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec19051/11/21/31/42/12/22/32/43/13/23/33/419064/14/24/34/45/15/25/35/46/16/26/36/419077/17/27/37/48/18/28/38/49/19/29/39/4190810/110/210/310/411/111/211/311/412/112/212/312/4190913/113/213/313/414/114/214/314/415/115/215/315/4191016/116/216/316/417/117/217/317/418/118/218/318/4191119/119/219/319/420/120/220/320/421/121/221/321/4191222/122/222/322/423/123/223/323/424/124/224/324/4191325/125/225/325/426/126/226/326/427/127/227/327/4191428/128/228/3 In 1882, Frank Munsey launched The Golden Argosy, a children's weekly magazine. The title changed to just The Argosy in 1888, and in 1896, Munsey switched to using coarse pulp paper, and printing only fiction, thus launching the first pulp magazine. It was immediately successful. Other publishers brought out competing magazines, such as Street & Smith's The Popular Magazine in 1903, and Story-Press's The Monthly Story Magazine in 1905. As the competition grew, Munsey decided to add another pulp title.Ashley (1985), pp. 103–109.
Munsey launched The All-Story Magazine in January 1905 on a monthly schedule with Robert H. Davis as the editor, and Davis hired Thomas Newell Metcalf to work for him as managing editor.Moskowitz (1970), pp. 318–319. Munsey had hired Davis early in 1904 to work on the New York Sunday News, but sold it in April of that year, and Davis had been fiction editor of Munsey's Magazine since then.Britt (1972), p. 232.
In March 1914 All-Story schedule switched to weekly, and in May of that year it was combined with another Munsey pulp, The Cavalier, under the title All-Story Cavalier Weekly. Davis and Metcalf had each dealt with some All-Story contributors up to that point, but thereafter Davis took over working with the writers who had been Metcalf's responsibility.Porges (1975), p. 183. The following year the "Cavalier" was dropped, and it continued as All-Story Weekly again until 1920, when it was merged into The Argosy. The combined magazine was retitled Argosy All-Story Weekly, and retained that name until 1929.
Contents and reception Issue data for All-Story from 1914 to 1920JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember1914Dates:7,14,21,284,11,18,252,9,16,23,306,13,20,274,11,18,251,8,15,22,295,12,19,263,10,17,24,317,14,21,285,12,19,26Volume:29/1 to 29/430/1 to 30/431/1 to 32/332/4 to 33/333/4 to 34/334/4 to 35/436/1 to 36/437/1 to 38/138/2 to 39/139/2 to 40/11915Dates:2,9,16,23,306,13,20,276,13,20,273,10,17,241,8,15,22,295,12,19,263,10,17,24,317,14,21,284,11,18,252,9,16,23,306,13,20,274,11,18,25Volume:40/2 to 41/241/3 to 42/242/3 to 43/243/3 to 44/244/3 to 45/345/4 to 46/346/4 to 47/448/1 to 48/449/1 to 49/450/1 to 51/151/2 to 52/152/2 to 53/11916Dates:1,8,15,22,295,12,19,264,11,18,251,8,15,22,296,13,20,273,10,17,241,8,15,22,295,12,19,262,9,16,23,307,14,21,284,11,18,252,9,16,23,30Volume:53/2 to 54/254/3 to 55/255/3 to 56/256/3 to 57/357/4 to 58/358/4 to 59/359/4 to 60/461/1 to 61/462/1 to 63/163/2 to 64/164/2 to 65/165/2 to 66/21917Dates:6,13,20,273,10,17,243,10,17,24,317,14,21,285,12,19,262,9,16,23,307,14,21,284,11,18,251,8,15,22,296,13,20,273,10,17,241,8,15,22,29Volume:66/3 to 67/267/3 to 68/268/3 to 69/369/4 to 70/370/4 to 71/371/4 to 72/473/1 to 73/474/1 to 74/475/1 to 76/176/2 to 77/177/2 to 78/178/2 to 79/21918Dates:5,12,19,262,9,16,232,9,16,23,306,13,20,274,11,18,251,8,15,22,296,13,20,273,10,17,24,317,14,21,285,12,19,262,9,16,23,307,14,21,28Volume:79/3 to 80/280/3 to 81/281/3 to 82/382/4 to 83/383/4 to 84/384/4 to 85/486/1 to 86/487/1 to 88/188/2 to 89/189/2 to 90/190/2 to 91/291/3 to 92/21919Dates:4,11,18,251,8,15,221,8,15,22,295,12,19,263,10,17,24,317,14,21,285,12,19,262,9,16,23,306,13,20,274,11,18,251,8,15,22,296,13,20,27Volume:92/3 to 93/293/3 to 94/294/3 to 95/395/4 to 96/396/4 to 97/498/1 to 98/499/1 to 99/4100/1 to 101/1101/2 to 102/1102/2 to 103/1103/2 to 104/2104/3 to 105/21920Dates:3,10,17,24,317,14,21,286,13,20,273,10,17,241,8,15,22,295,12,19,263,10,17Volume:105/3 to 106/3106/4 to 107/3107/4 to 108/3108/4 to 109/3109/4 to 110/4111/1 to 111/4112/1 to 112/3 The first issue included the first instalments of five novels, one of which was W. Bert Foster's When Time Slipped a Cog, about a man who discovers a year of his life has passed that he cannot remember. Two of the short stories were science fiction as well: Howard R. Garis's "The Ghost at Box 13", and Margaret Prescott Montague's "The Great Sleep Tanks". The May issue reprinted Garrett P. Serviss's short novel The Moon Metal (originally published in book form in 1900), about a new fiscal standard that replaced gold with a metal from the moon. Serviss also appeared in 1909 with A Columbus of Space, serialized in the January to June issues, which science fiction historian Sam Moskowitz commented "caused some to class Serviss as the equal of Jules Verne".Moskowitz (1968), p. 36.
Mary Roberts Rinehart's first story, "A Gasoline Road Agent", appeared in the April 1905 issue. Davis encouraged her efforts, and her first novel, The Circular Staircase, was serialized in All-Story from November 1906 to March 1907. In book form the novel later became the first major success of her career.Moskowitz (1970), p. 320.Server (2002), pp. 221–222. Max Brand, one of the most prolific of all pulp writers, sold his first Western novel, The Untamed, to All-Story; it was serialized starting in the December 1918 issue.Server (2002), p. 35. Ray Cummings, another prolific pulp author, began his career with "The Girl in the Golden Atom" in the March 15, 1919, issue of All-Story; it was one of the most popular stories he ever wrote. Other All-Story writers included Rex Stout, later a well-known mystery writer; Western writer Raymond S. Spears; science fiction writer Murray Leinster; horror and fantasy writers Tod Robbins and Perley Poore Sheehan,Hulse (2013), pp. 19–29. and W. Adolphe Roberts, a Jamaican writer who later became a leader of Jamaica's independence movement.Locke (2007), p. 67. All-Story also published poetry, including work by Djuna Barnes, later known as an important figure in modernist and lesbian literature.Earle (2009), p. 65.Parsons (2007), pp. 165–177.Miller (2006), p. 14. Eldred Kurtz Means's "Tickfall" stories, about black Americans in Louisiana, began in Cavalier and moved to All-Story when the two magazines merged.Drew (2015), p. 89. Johnston McCulley's Zorro series began with the serialization of The Curse of Capistrano in August and September 1919, and continued in Argosy after the magazines merged in 1920.Server (2002), pp. 184–185. Edwin Baird, later the founding editor of Weird Tales, made his first sale to All-Story in 1906, and contributed several more over the life of the magazine.Locke (2007), p. 79.
The first issue's cover printed the words "Something New" in a script font on a red background. A picture of two cowboys appeared on the next issue. The third issue took over the cover for a declaration that the magazine had reached a circulation of 200,000, but thereafter artwork was used on every cover. Artists included Valentine Sandberg and F. X. Chamberlain. The cover illustrations did not at first have any relationship to the stories in the magazine.
John Clute, discussing the American pulp magazines in the first two decades of the twentieth century, has described All-Story and its companion, Argosy, as "the most important pulps of their era."Clute (1995), p. 43.
Burroughs
The most important author discovered by All-Story was Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs was thirty-five years old in the summer of 1911, and unsuccessful in business. He began writing a novel in July of that year, "very surreptitiously" as he later recalled: "I was very much ashamed of my new vocation ... It seemed a foolish thing for a full grown man to be doing". By August he had completed enough of the story to send it to All-Story under the title "Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess", adding in his covering letter that the completed story would be three times the length of the 43,000 words he was submitting. Metcalf replied with guarded enthusiasm, asking for some cuts, and a total length of no more than 70,000 words. Metcalf bought the rewritten story in November for $400 (equivalent to $ in ); given that the manuscript had taken four months of work, Burroughs was unimpressed at the pay rate.Porges (1976), pp. 2–7. The story was serialized in All-Story from February to July 1912, titled Under the Moons of Mars. This was the first of Burroughs's Barsoom stories ("Barsoom" being the name of the planet Mars in the series), an early and influential planetary romance. Darkness and Dawn, by George Allan England, had been serialized in another Munsey magazine, The Cavalier, starting in January that year, and science fiction historian Sam Moskowitz regards the appearance of these two stories as signalling the start of an era of popular science fiction love stories.Moskowitz (1970), pp. 334–336. Burroughs had intended the story to be printed under the pseudonym "Normal Bean", to indicate he was an ordinary person despite the fantastic nature of the story.Porges (1975), p. 4. The typesetter assumed it was an error and the story appeared as by "Norman Bean", leading Burroughs to give up the pseudonym and publish his subsequent work under his real name.Porges (1975), p. 118.