Appreciation Zine

An appreciation or tribute zine equates to a testimonial dinner in print. Basically a festschrift, a fanzine published to honor a specific person. It may be a fanthology of the honoree's work or of encomiums by other fen. Appreciation zines gather material about a particular pro or fan, from various writers, artists, etc. (sometimes secretly, with the intent of surprising the subject).

Examples include Ole! Chavela (done for Isobel Burbee in 1960), Forry! (done for Ackerman's 50th birthday in 1966), A Fanzine for Bjohn and Share the Rapp (wedding celebration zines for the Trimbles and the Rapps, respectively, in 1960 and 1961), the zine done by New York fans for Hank Davis's birthday in the early 1970s, and several issues of George Laskowski's Lan's Lantern. Lan's Lantern #9 (1979, for instance, was "A Jack Williamson Special.")

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Appreciation Magazine Is published one-shot style -- altho it may be a special issue of a regular fanzine -- to commemorate, celebrate, or sometimes castigate its object. The Tucker Issue of Quandry (#24) was a case in point, as was Rotsler's Hommage A Burbee (with nothing by Burb in it!) A different version of the idea appeared in Harlan Ellison's 1953 "Galaxy Appreciation Issue" of Science Fantasy Bulletin, which featured a long and scalding harangue by Rich Elsberry, protesting various objectionable practices indulged in by Galaxy editor Horace Gold a year or two previously.

From Fancyclopedia 2 Supplement, ca. 1960

This should have been tied in with a mundane notion: it's the nearest approximation to the German word Festschrift, used in mundane (mostly scientific) circles to refer to a one-shot collection of articles dedicated to, though not necessarily about, some figure being specifically honored. With us, of course, the articles almost always have some connection -- however oblique -- the the vic...uh, honoree.

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