Fancyclopedia 1

Fancy 1 is the original Fancyclopedia, published by Jack Speer in 1944. The entire contents of Fancy 1 has been added to Fancyclopedia 3, and the pages are categorized as Category:fancy1. Speer's nickname for the project was “Cy.”

According to Harry Warner, “it contained 97 pages of definitions, not counting the title page, the introductory page, a final page that was devoted to errata and credits, or the covers. The covers consisted of one wraparound sheet of some type of heavy, pebbled and quite flexible substance. Mine was red, with silver stamping bearing a startling combination of names: John Bristol (Speer’s first two names), NFFF, LASFS, and Forrest J Ackerman. The pages in my copy are a dark buff hue, and those to the front of the book have either faded into a strangulation blue tinge or didn’t match the rest of the pages to begin with.”

• Facsimile of the First Edition.
• Transcript.
• “Fancyclopedia Forever!” by Jack Speer (1956), a long fanzine article about how he produced the original Fancy.

From the introduction to the original edition:

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Fancyclopedia John Bristol (Jack Speer) Published by the Fantasy Foundation, 1944 Introduction The purpose of the Fancyclopedia, not fully realized, is to define all expressions, except nonce-words, which have an esoteric meaning in fantasy fandom, and to supply other information, such as that on Esperanto, which may be needed to understand what fans say, write, and do. It should be remarked, however, that fans make many allusions to materials in prozines, fanzines, and other places, which no reference work could cover completely. Certain fields have been excluded from the scope of the Fancyclopedia because they are well taken care of elsewhere. While nicknames of fans and pet names of fan magazines are identified here, biographies have been left to the various Who's Whos of fandom, and fanzines in detail to Dr. Swisher's excellent S-F Check-list. Despite our efforts for accuracy and completeness, many errors and omissions will no doubt be discovered herein. The editor will appreciate receiving corrective information. It is suggested that those who have little or no acquaintance with fantasy or fan activity read the articles on those subjects first, then look up, in the normal alphabetical place, expressions not understood which have been used in those two articles. It has seemed more efficient for the probable uses of this handbook, and economical of space, to give short articles on many subjects rather than long articles on a few broad subjects. To find a desired subject, look first under the word that you have in mind. If what you want is not there, try to think of other words related to it. So, if you want a summary of the history of fandom and do not find it under "history", look under "fandom", where "First Fandom", "First Transition", etc, are your keys. A little practice in using the encyclopedia will make it easy to find what you want. Because "science-fiction" and "fan", used as adjectives, practically define our universe of discourse, and are tacit or expressed modifiers of so many words, they have in most cases been ignored in determining the alphabetical order. Thus "fan activity", for instance, will be found in the A's. A name in parentheses after a word or phrase to be defined is the originator of the term or of its use in fandom; where this is followed by a colon and another name, the second is the person who had most to do with making it part of the fan vocabulary. For example, "Baby" as an auto's name comes from the movie of Erich Maria Romarque's "Three Comrades", but the name was borrowed and given by Harry Dockweiler to the redoubtable vehicle owned by the Futurians. Asterisks scattered thru the text refer to the Errataddendum at the back. This was originally planned as Full Length Articles Number Three: Some Beginnings on an Encyclopedic Dictionary of Fandom. In its present form it was an NFFF project, the editor and publisher being brot together thru the agency of the NFFF. The manuscript was prepared by John A. Bristol and submitted to the Futurians, Ackerman, Rothman, and Tucker for corrections and additions; it was then returned to Bristol who stenciled it, incorporating many of the suggested changes, and bringing the information down to the end of 1943. The publisher is Forrest J Ackerman, Box 6475 Metropolitan Station, Los Angeles 55, Calif. Price, $1.50. First edition, 250 copies; of which 47 were ordered prior to assembly.

See also Fancyclopedia II

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

PUBLISHING CREDITS: The publisher wishes to express his thanks to the numerous Los Angeles fans who, in manner small or large, contributed to the manual labor of producing the FANCYCLOPEDIA. One hundred and 8 "fan hours" went into the mimeography alone - the crank turning (c. 28,775 revolutions), the slipsheeting, the de-slipping, and a special trimming job on a portion of pages. A good gallon of ink was consumed. The tremendous assembly job yet remains to be done; and altogether it appears likely that the creation of the FANCYCLOPEDIA, in addition to its author's two years of compilation, will have cost, in the time of a composite fan, 5 nonstop 24 hour days. Special credit accrues to Walt Daugherty for a bit of a blitz in the securing of the precious stencils from the previous publisher-to-have-been when former fan lost interest in the project. Special credits also to Fran Laney for his trimming work, Morojo for her transportation of the edition to the bindery. MIMEOING SLIPPING DE-SLIPPING 37 pgs - Ackerman 38 pgs - Ackerman 32 pgs - Ackerman 22 pgs - Daugherty 25 pgs - Morojo 24 pgs - Morojo 20 pgs - Morojo 19 pgs - Daugherty 15 pgs - Brown 8 pgs - Crozetti 8 pgs - Crozetti 10 pgs - Daugherty 8 pgs - Laney 5 pgs - Rogers 5 pgs - Rogers 4 pgs - Misc. 4 pgs - Misc. 13 pgs - Misc TOTAL TIME SPENT ON ABOVE COMBINED OPERATIONS 46 hrs - Ackerman 30 hrs - Morojo 13 hrs - Daugherty 5 hrs - Brown 5 hrs - Laney 5 hrs - Crozetti 4 hrs - Rogers

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Publication

1944

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