Space heroes soaring through the depths of the cosmos. Scantily clad women pursued by indescribable horrors. Telepathic aliens, vampires, werewolves, mummies. Science fiction, horror, mystery, action... and many more genres stretched their legs thanks to the economy of pulp magazines, and today we are lucky enough to access a formidable free database, courtesy of the Internet Archive.
What Are Pulp Magazines?
The term pulp does nothing more than identify the material from which those magazines were made: the crudest and most accessible wood pulp that could be used to make paper. The end result was mediocre at best, but more than enough to distribute stories in huge quantities at a very low price, without harming the market for glossies, magazines printed on paper of much higher quality.
A Brief History of Pulp
The first pulp magazines date back to the nineteenth century, with publications such as Argosy Magazine and The Popular Magazine, which delivered hundreds of thousands of words to their readers once or twice a month for a few cents. Over time, historic publications appeared, on the level of Weird Tales (the original home of The Call of Cthulhu), Amazing Stories, and Horror Stories, among others.
The Archive and Gallery
What we are sharing today is divided into two parts. On one hand, the database dedicated to pulp kept by the Internet Archive. More than 19,000 texts have been preserved there, with multiple viewing and download options. On the other, a gallery with the best illustrations. Enjoy!
Access the material: Click here
Gallery
