Focus on Fantasy Press
January 9th, 2007 by Alan Chudnow
Fantasy Press was one of the very earliest of the small presses specializing in the science fiction genre. Created in 1946 by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Fantasy Press specialized in reprinting novels and short stories originally published in the early pulp magazines. Many of these were the first hardcover printings of works by A. E. van Vogt, L. Sprague de Camp, John W. Campbell and Stanley Weinbaum. Also published under the colophon was the first nonfiction book about science fiction, an anthology of essays titled Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing with contributions from Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Williamson, E. E. “Doc” Smith and others.
Many of the Fantasy Press titles are readily available with prices for F/F copies generally running in the $200-$300 range as of this writing. A number of titles were also issued as a special signed limited first edition.
Fantasy Press also published three titles in a trade paperback format. Each book featured gold wrappers with an illustration by Edd Cartier:
- Smith, E. E. “Doc”. Galactic Patrol ($1.00, 1950, 273pp, cvr illustration: Edd Cartier, 500 copies so issued.)
- Campbell, John W. John W. The Moon is Hell! ($1.00, 1957, cvr illustration: Edd Cartier, 500 copies so issued.)
- Leinster, Murray. Operation: Outer Space ($1.00, 1954, 208pp, cvr illustration: Edd Cartier, 500 copies so issued.)
I have not found a complete checklist of the Fantasy Press titles so have begun to compile my own on the Collecting SF Books site. I believe the list to be incomplete and would appreciate any information on titles I may be missing. You can find the list on the Resources page under “Series Title Checklists” or go directly to the Fantasy Press Checklist page.
