What Was the First Fanzine?
There are several candidates for the title of "First Fanzine." We discuss each of them below, starting with the earliest (which may or may not have existed and may or may not have been a fazine) and ending with the earliest things that must be called a fanzine.
Contents
Cosmic Stories (Siegel)[edit]
This seems to have been a carbonzine published by Jerry Siegel while in high school which had two issues. It appears to have been all fiction. The big questions are (1) Did it actually exist? and (2) When was it published and by whom? and (3) How was it produced? and (4) Was it an amateur prozine rather than a fanzine (and does that matter?)
(1) Did it actually exist?[edit]
There are plenty of references to Cosmic Tales as the First Fanzine, but they all seem to be traceable back to two sources: Sam Moskowitz in The Immortal Storm and the Pavlat-Evans index. Unfortunately, both of these 1950s sources say that they never saw the publication and did not believe any copies still existed. We have, so far, found no evidence of anyone saying they saw a copy. Given that SaM and Bob Pavlat or Bill Evans believed it existed, it probably did -- but we need to remember the tenuous nature of the evidence.
On the other hand, Donald Tuck says the first fanzine was published in 1932.
Pavlat-Evans says:
Prior to Science Fiction/Siegel edited two typewritten magazines, Cosmic Stories and Cosmic Stories Quarterly. Apparently all copies of these last have been lost or-destroyed
A recent blog entry says:
Jerome Siegel's writing career began early in his life. When he was 14, he created his first comic booklet called Cosmic Stories, which was advertised in the classified section of Science Wonder Stories. It was later known as the first sci-fi fanzine and he continued to publish several other booklets over the next few years.
If we could find this ad, this would be strong evidence it existed.
(2) When was it published and by whom?[edit]
(3) How was it produced?[edit]
The second question is how it was published. The earliest references to it say it was done by typewriter and carbon paper, but Jerry Siegel himself, much later, remembered it as being done by hecto.
We are inclined to think it was done by typewriter and carbon paper and that Siegel's later memory was faulty.
(4) Was it a Fanzine?[edit]
Finally, there's the question of content. All of the sources seem to agree that it was entirely fiction written by Siegel.
