Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939 (Facsimile)

Southern Illinois University Press: Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL, 1981. Facsimile Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6x0x9. [SCI-FI]. Eds. John W. Campbell, Jr., Martin H. Greenberg. Contributors: Stanley Schmidt, Isaac Asimov, A. E. Van Vogt, Ross Rocklynne, et al. "Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939 (Facsimile)." Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981. Printed in USA. Facsimile edition. English language. Hardcover in jacket. Text with black and white illustrations. 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.5 in. 24 x 16 x 2 cm. 18 oz. ix, 180 pp. Small tears and chips at top and bottom of jacket. yellowing of jacket. Orange cloth boards with silver lettering on spine. Price in pencil on free front endpaper. text clean. Very Good. ISBN: 9780809309917."A reprint of the issue of Astounding Science Fiction that is widely considered to be the first great issue under the editorship of John W. Campbell, Jr. Astounding Science Fiction as edited by Campbell was the premier magazine of the golden age of American science fiction. This special reprint edition ably demonstrates why the science fiction magazines of that era were so important to the development of modern science fiction into the popular and important literary form it is today. Unquestionably a classic issue, it begins with the cover story, Black Destroyer, the first published work of AE van Vogt and also features Trends by Isaac Asimov, his first sale to Astounding. Significant as these debuts are, it is the overall strength of the issue that finally impresses. These are stories by some of the best-known writers in the field: Nat Schachner, City of the Cosmic Rays; Nelson S. Bond, Lightship Ho!; Ross Rocklynne, The Moth; CL Moore (one of the first women to achieve prominence in writing science fiction), Greater than Gods; as well as thought-provoking articles on nuclear energy, computers, and hemispheric migration. But this new edition is far more than just a fine reprint of an important issue. There is a commentary on Astounding by Stanley Schmidt (the current editor of Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact, the successor to Astounding) and memoirs of the stories and the magazine by Isaac Asimov, AE van Vogt, and Ross Rocklynne.