Columbia Publications is an American publisher of books and magazines featuring the genres of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

, westerns, detective stories, romance, and sports fiction. The company published such writers as

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

Louis L'Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known West ...

, Arthur C. Clarke,

Randall Garrett Gordon Randall Phillip David GarrettGarrett, Randall
in ''

Edward D. Hoch, and

William Tenn William Tenn was the pseudonym of Philip Klass (May 9, 1920 – February 7, 2010), a British-born American science fiction author, notable for many stories with satirical elements. Biography Born to a Jewish family in London, Phillip Klass mo ...

; Robert A. W. Lowndes was an important early editor for such writers as

Carol Emshwiller Carol Emshwiller (April 12, 1921 – February 2, 2019) was an American writer of avant-garde short stories and science fiction who won prizes for her work including the Nebula Award to the Philip K. Dick Award. Ursula K. Le Guin has called her ...

, Edward D. Hoch and Kate Wilhelm. Operating from the mid-1930s to 1960, Columbia's most notable magazines were the science fiction pulps '' Future Science Fiction'', ''

Science Fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

'', and '' Science Fiction Quarterly''. Other long-running titles included ''Double Action Western Magazine'', ''Real Western'', ''Western Action'', ''Famous Western'', ''Today's Love Stories'', ''Super Sports'', and ''Double Action Detective and Mystery Stories''. In addition to pulp magazines, the company also published some paperback novels, primarily in the science fiction genre. Columbia Publications was the most prolific of a number of pulp imprints operated in the 1930s by Louis Silberkleit. Nominally, their offices were in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

and

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

Ashley, Mike; Thompson, Raymond H. (1985). "Science Fiction". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike. ''Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines''. Westport CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 511–519. . (the addresses of their printers, binders, and mailers for subscriptions), but they were actually produced out of 60 Hudson Street in New York City.

History

Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne (two out of three of the men who later founded MLJ Magazines ( Archie Comic Publications)) started publishing pulps in Sept. 1934 with the publisher brand Winford Publications and the title ''Double Action Western Magazine'', soon joined by ''Real Western''. The two men launched the Northwest Publishing imprint in 1935, Chesterfield Publications in 1936, Blue Ribbon Magazines in 1937, and Double Action Magazines in 1938.Saunders, David
"LOUIS H. SILBERKLEIT (1900–1986),"
''Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists''. Retrieved February 26, 2017. Silberkleit ran the companies while Coyne acted as a silent partner and business manager. Meanwhile, Silberkleit and Coyne had started Columbia Publications in late 1937.
''The New York Times'' (February 25, 1986) (last visited on July 19, 2015). Columbia's first titles were

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

pulps: ''Western Yarns'' debuted in January 1938 and ''Complete Cowboy'' in January 1939. Beginning with the June 1940 issue, Columbia took over publication of ''Western Action'' from Winford Publications. The same happened in November 1940 with ''Double Action Western Magazine'' and ''Real Western''. Editor Charles Hornig was hired in October 1938.Davin, Eric Leif (1999). ''Pioneers of Wonder: Conversations with the Founders of Science Fiction''. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books. , p. 102.Davin (1999), pp.111–112. He had no office; he worked from home, coming into the office as needed to drop off manuscripts and dummy materials, and pick up typeset materials to proof. He was given broad freedom to select what he wanted to publish; he reported to Silberkleit's chief editor, Abner J. Sundell. In 1941, Silberkleit essentially consolidated all his pulp publishing companies under the Columbia Publications umbrella. Extant titles Columbia took on that year included ''Famous Western'', ''

'', ''Hooded Detective'' (started in 1938 under a different title), ''

Future Fiction ''Future Science Fiction'' and ''Science Fiction Stories'' were two American science fiction magazines that were published under various names between 1939 and 1943 and again from 1950 to 1960. Both publications were edited by Charles Hornig f ...

'', ''Sports Winners'' and ''Super Sports''. At that point, in mid-1941, Robert A. W. Lowndes came on board, becoming Columbia's lead editor. In late 1941, Silberkleit merged ''Science Fiction'' with ''Future Fiction.'' Two years later Columbia cancelled both ''Future'' and '' Science Fiction Quarterly'' (launched in 1941), deciding to use the limited paper they could acquire for their line of Western and detective titles instead.Ashley, Mike (1985d). "Future Fiction". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike. ''Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. , p. 280. (The U.S.'s 1941–1942 entry into

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

brought about a paper shortage, which equally effected other pulp publications.) Both magazines, as well as ''Science Fiction'', were revived in the 1950s. In addition to pulp magazines, Columbia published a few paperback books, most notably Noel Loomis' ''City of Glass'' (1955) (a "Double Action Pocketbook"; originally published in 1942 as a shorter piece in Standard Magazines' '' Startling Stories'') and the five-issue series ''Science Fiction Classics'' (1942), which included novellas by Earl Binder and Otto Binder writing as "John Coleridge," and John Russell Fearn writing as "Dennis Clive". As television supplanted magazines as the dominant form of mass entertainment in the 1950s, the pulps suffered from slumping sales. In February 1960, when Columbia's distributor refused to carry any more of the company's titles, that signaled the end of Columbia Publications.Feldman, Michael
"The Secret Origin of Tower Comics,"
in ''The Thunder Agents Companion'' by Jon B. Cooke (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2005), p. 85. Silberkleit, Coyne, and fellow Archie founder John L. Goldwater immediately founded Belmont Books, a low-rent paperback publisher devoted to science fiction, horror, and mystery titles.Hyfler, Richard
"Books For Bus Terminals: Whatever Happened to Belmont Productions?"
''Forbes'' (September 15, 2010). In its early years, Belmont published a number of science fiction anthologies that featured content from ''Science Fiction'', ''Future Fiction'', '' Science Fiction Quarterly'', and '' Dynamic Science Fiction'', all of which had been published by Columbia Publications.

Gerald G. Swan reprints

British publisher Gerald G. Swan (1902–1980)"Gerald G. Swan,"
Grand Comics Database. Retrieved March 22, 2017. published 16 issues of ''Swan American Magazine'' from 1946 to 1950, the contents of which were culled from Columbia Publications titles. The ''Swan'' issues focused on Western and detective titles, with a couple of science fiction-themed issues thrown in. Five individual issues of ''Swan American Magazine'' were devoted to material reprinted from Columbia's ''Famous Western'', two to ''Western Yarns'', and two to ''Complete Cowboy''. ''Swan American Magazines'' issues: # ''Western Yarns'' (1948) # ''Detective Yarns'' (1948) # ''Crack Detective Stories'' (1948) # ''Famous Western'' (1948) # ''Western Yarns'' (1948) # ''Famous Western'' (1948 # ''Hooded Detective'' (1948) # ''Famous Western'' (1948) # ''Crack Detective'' (1948) # ''Famous Western'' (1948) # '' Future Fantasy and Science Fiction'' (1948) # ''Complete Cowboy Wild Western Stories'' # ''Famous Western'' # ''Complete Cowboy Wild Western Stories'' # '' Science Fiction Quarterly'' (1950) # '' Black Hood Detective'' (1950) In 1960, Swan also published three issues of ''Weird and Occult Library'', which mostly featured old stories from Columbia's science fiction pulps.

Titles published

Notes

References

Notes

Sources consulted

Pulp Magazines
Galactic Central website {{DEFAULTSORT:Columbia Publications American companies established in 1937 American companies disestablished in 1960 Publishing companies established in 1937 Magazine publishing companies of the United States Pulp magazine publishing companies of the United States 1937 establishments in New York (state) 1937 establishments in Massachusetts 1960 disestablishments in Massachusetts 1960 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in Massachusetts

History

Gerald G. Swan reprints

Titles published

Further reading

Notes

References

Notes

Sources consulted