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== Publication history ==
In 1882 [[Frank Munsey]] moved from [[Augusta, Maine]], to New York City
The magazine was not initially profitable, and for years Munsey was under immense financial pressure. An advertising campaign in 1886 brought a surge in circulation to 115,000,<ref name=":62">Britt (1972), pp. 76–77.</ref><ref name=":112">Munsey (1907), p. 30.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Britt quotes a circulation of 150,000, but this appears to be an error as Munsey twice cites a circulation peak of 115,000 in his own account of events.<ref name=":6" /><ref>Munsey (1907), p. 49.</ref><ref name=":11" />|group=note}} but this was temporary, and though Munsey experimented with ''The Golden Argosy'', shortening the title to just ''The Argosy'', and changing the page size and page count, he was unable to reverse the decline.<ref name=":8">Britt (1972), pp. 67–79.</ref> In 1889 Munsey launched ''Munsey's Weekly'', hoping that it would establish itself as profitable before ''The Argosy'' failed completely.<ref name=":9">Britt (1972), pp. 80–81.</ref>
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The first issue of ''Munsey's Weekly'' was dated February 2, 1889. It was 36 pages long, in [[Quarto#Quarto as size|quarto]] format,{{#tag:ref|"Quarto" magazines were [[Bookbinding#Stitched_or_sewn_binding|saddle-stapled]] and {{convert|8.5|x|11|in|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephenson-Payne |first=Phil |title=FictionMags Index Family: Notes |url=http://www.philsp.com/docs/fm_user4.html |access-date=February 19, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref>|group=note}} and priced at ten cents (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|.1|1889|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=":11" /> The contents were satire and comedy: it was aimed at the same market as ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]].'' Munsey hired [[John Kendrick Bangs]] as the founding editor;<ref name=":11">Mott (1957b), pp. 608–609.</ref> at the time Bangs was working for ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's]]'', but only for two afternoons a week, leaving him time to take on other responsibilities. At ''Harper's'' he was responsible for "The Editor's Drawer", a long-established humorous column. Bangs found Munsey to be difficult to work for; Bangs was used to a relaxed relationship with his previous publisher, but Munsey was constantly asking him about his work. By this time Munsey had written several novels for ''The Golden Argosy'', and he submitted one, titled ''A Tragedy of Errors'', to Bangs, who rejected it. Munsey insisted on running the story, and Bangs [[serial (literature)|serialized]] it, but offered his resignation from the editorship. His last issue was in June. Bangs and Munsey remained on good terms, and Bangs subsequently sold work to Munsey, both for ''Munsey's Magazine'' (as the ''Weekly'' was later retitled) and for the ''[[New York Star (1800s newspaper)|Daily Continent]]'',<ref>Bangs (1941), pp. 101–104.</ref> a short-lived tabloid version of the daily paper the [[New York Star (1800s newspaper)|''New York Star'']], which Munsey acquired for a few months in 1891.<ref>Lee (1917), p. 373.</ref>
The magazine continued without a named editor for two more years, managed by the same team that was running ''The Argosy''.<ref name=":1" /> In February 1890 Munsey bought another humorous weekly, ''Time'' (launched in 1884 as ''Tid-bits'') and merged the subscription list with ''Munsey's Weekly''.<ref>Mott (1957a), p. 268.</ref><ref>Anonymous (February 22, 1890), p. 2.</ref> Munsey claimed that the acquisition would increase the ''Weekly''
=== ''Munsey's Magazine'' ===
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=== Later years ===
[[File:Making of Munsey's Magazine Dec 1899 328 2.png|alt=Three people working at a large machine|thumb|upright=2.5|Covering machines used in 1899, from an article in ''Munsey's'' about how the magazine was produced<ref>Munsey (December 1899), p. 328.</ref>]]
Circulation fell slowly from 1898 until 1905, but advertising revenue stayed strong. Munsey had built a modern printing plant which reduced costs, and most of the writers used, for both fiction and editorial material, were not expensive.<ref name=":7">Mott (1957b), p. 614.</ref> Art was typically printed as [[
A campaign to increase circulation began in 1905, but from 1906, when circulation was almost back to 700,000, it fell steadily, down to 400,000 in 1912. By this time Munsey's businesses included a grocery store chain, newspapers, and many other magazines, and he was no longer closely involved in the day-to-day management of ''Munsey's''.<ref name=":0">Mott (1957b), p. 617.</ref> The price was raised from ten to fifteen cents in 1912. It was dropped again to ten cents in 1916 in an unsuccessful attempt to improve sales, and then raised to twenty cents in 1918. The page count, always higher than in the competing magazines, was increased again, sometimes to as many as 265 pages of non-advertising matter.<ref>Mott (1957b), pp. 617–619.</ref>
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''Munsey's Weekly'' included humorous pieces, but also a gossip column about politics and the [[society reporting|society]] of [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=":11" /> Illustrators included [[Charles Howard Johnson]], F. P. W. Bellew, [[Edward Durand|E. L. Durand]] and A. E. Fenner.<ref name=":11" /><ref>Levey (June 1890), p. 83.</ref> [[Frank Luther Mott]], a magazine historian, describes the magazine as "a good paper of handsome appearance".<ref name=":11" /> In August 1887 Munsey had begun publishing a series of books for young people, titled Munsey's Popular Series for Boys and Girls,<ref>Cox (2000), p. 182.</ref> and he also began a series of cloth-bound books starting with his own ''The Boy Broker'', which had been originally serialized in ''The Golden Argosy''.<ref name=":1" /> Both these series were advertised in the ''Weekly''.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Horatio Alger, Jr. in 1852.jpg|alt=Head and shoulders of a man|left|thumb|Horatio Alger in 1852]]
When the schedule changed to monthly, the magazine expanded to 96 non-advertising pages, with a few halftone illustrations.<ref name=":14" /> Initially the contributors were not well-known writers, except for [[Horatio Alger]], whose novelette "A Fancy of Hers" appeared in the March 1892 issue.<ref name=":14" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Magazine Contents Lists: Page 763 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00763.htm#TOP |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228045327/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00763.htm#TOP |archive-date=February 28, 2024 |access-date=February 28, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref> This was part of a run of issues in 1892 which each ran "a complete novel in each number", typically about fifty pages. Non-fiction departments included a theater column, "The Stage", written by C. Stuart Johnson; "Literary Chat"; a humor section called "Etchings", and editorial columns.<ref name=":14" /> Munsey's own novel ''Derringforth'' was part way through serialization when the first ten-cent issue appeared.<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Magazine Contents Lists: Page 765 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00765.htm#A3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229224725/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00765.htm#A3 |archive-date=February 29, 2024 |access-date=February 29, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref> In 1896 another well-known writer appeared: [[Hall Caine]]'s ''The Christian'', serialized from 1896 to 1897, was very popular. Other well-known authors followed, including [[F. Marion Crawford]], [[H. Rider Haggard]], [[Anthony Hope|Anthony Hope Hawkins]], [[Myrtle Reed]], and [[Grace MacGowan Cooke]]. [[Ella Wheeler Wilcox]] contributed poetry to the "Etchings" column.<ref name=":15" /> When
The magazine's covers were initially simply a table of contents, but in 1893 Munsey began putting a picture of a pretty girl on the cover of each magazine. He was the first publisher to do so regularly, and the policy probably gave the circulation another boost.<ref>Churchill (1958), pp. 292–293.</ref><ref name=":22" /> In the middle of the 1890s ''Munsey's'' became known for printing images of "half-dressed women and undressed statuary", in the words of an editorial in ''[[The Independent (New York City)|The Independent]]''.<ref name=":6" /><ref>Anonymous (June 27, 1895), p. (867) 11</ref> The magazine grew to 160 pages of reading matter, with an article on "Artists and Their Work", leading each issue, a natural vehicle for numerous halftones. Johnson's "The Stage" had its share of nudes, as did a department called "Types of Fair Women".<ref name=":6" /> "Literary Chat" and "Etchings" (now including poetry) were joined by "Impressions by the Way" (editorials).<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":15">Mott (1957b), p. 612.</ref> By the second half of the decade the use of nudes began to decline, but the reputation remained: in 1898 the [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|Wilkes-Barre]] Public Library cancelled its subscription to ''Munsey's'' "because of the many illustrations ... which are on the nude order".<ref name=":6" /> However, the halftones were still an important part of the magazine's appeal.<ref name=":15" /> After the [[Spanish–American War]] began in April 1898, the regular lead article became "In the Public Eye" rather than "Artists and Their Work", but photographs, now on military topics, were still frequent.<ref name=":16">Mott (1957b), p. 613.</ref>
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In 1904, Munsey hired [[Robert Hobart Davis|Bob Davis]] to edit the ''[[New York Sunday News]]'', and when that was closed down soon afterwards, Davis was made fiction editor of ''Munsey's Magazine'', leaving the editor, Richard Titherington, in overall charge.<ref>Moskowitz (1970), pp. 316–318.</ref> Davis made an arrangement with [[O. Henry]] in January 1905 that for five years he would have the right of first refusal on all Henry's work. In return Davis agreed to pay ten cents a word for everything he bought from Henry.<ref>Long (1949), p. 109.</ref> The result was that a dozen stories by Henry appeared in ''Munsey's'' over the next five years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Index by Date: Page 3261 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/i03/i03261.htm#BOT |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302223054/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/i03/i03261.htm#BOT |archive-date=March 2, 2024 |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Index by Date: Page 3262 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/i03/i03262.htm#TOP |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302223212/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/i03/i03262.htm#TOP |archive-date=March 2, 2024 |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref> Once they had become profitable, all of Munsey's magazines paid on acceptance or soon after, rather than on publication, unlike most of the competing magazines. This made them more attractive to writers.<ref>Moskowitz (1970), p. 294.</ref>
[[World War I]] brought more articles on military topics, often written by members of the government, including [[Robert Lansing]], [[William C. Redfield]], and [[Franklin Knight Lane]].<ref name=":0" />{{#tag:ref|Lansing was Secretary of State from June 1915 to February 1920;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Robert Lansing (1864–1928) |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/lansing-robert |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=Office of the Historian}}</ref> Redfield was Secretary of Commerce from March 1913 to November 1919;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Redfield, William Cox: 1858–1932 |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/R000105 |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}}</ref> and Lane was Secretary of the Interior from 1913 to March 1920.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tourangeau |first=R. Dixie |date=March 27, 2017 |title=Franklin Knight Lane: 1864–1921 |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/sontag/lane.htm |access-date=March 29, 2024 |website=National Park Service}}</ref>|group=note}} War pictures and images of members of the government were common, and there were two editorial sections, covering the war but also other topics. Mott describes the nonfiction in the period 1916 to the end of the decade as "unusually interesting and varied", citing work by [[Richard Le Gallienne]], [[Brander Matthews]], and [[Anne O'Hagan Shinn|Ann O'Hagan]], among others, but adds that the magazine was "on a lethal toboggan", with circulation declining. The "complete novel in each issue" policy, tried in 1892, was revisited in the mid-1910s, with contributions from [[P. G. Wodehouse]], [[Joseph Conrad]], [[Arnold Bennett]], and others: serialization of longer works was tried again, along with variations in the length of the fiction. From 1921 the magazine was switched to fiction only, including poetry. The authors printed came from both the [[
Although Munsey's two sister magazines, ''Argosy'' and ''All-Story'', regularly carried [[science fiction]], ''Munsey's'' rarely did so for its first thirty years. Starting in 1921, with the change to an all-fiction format, some science fiction began to appear, including in the November 1923 issue John D. Swain's "The Last Man on Earth", filmed the following year as ''[[The Last Man on Earth (1924 film)|The Last Man on Earth]]''. Philip M. Fisher and [[E. F. Benson]] also published science fiction in ''Munsey's''.<ref name=":122" /> In the February 1923 issue, Tod Robbins' "Spurs" appeared, set in a traveling circus, with a cast including "[[freak show|circus freaks]]": unusual people such as midgets. The story was filmed in 1932 as ''[[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]''.<ref>Server (2002), p. 224.</ref>
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