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'''Munsey's Magazine''' was an American magazine founded by [[Frank Munsey]]. Originally launched in 1889 as '''''Munsey's Weekly''''', a humorous magazine, edited by [[John Kendrick Bangs]], it was not successful, and by late 1891 had lost $100,000 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|100000|1891|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}). Munsey converted it to a general illustrated monthly in October of that year, retitled ''Munsey's Magazine'' and priced at twenty-five cents (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|0.25|1891|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}). [[Richard Titherington]] became the editor, and remained in that role for the rest of the magazine's existence. In 1893 Munsey reduced the price to ten cents (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|.1|1893|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}): this brought him into conflict with the [[American News Company]], which had a near-monopoly on magazine distribution, as they were unwilling to handle the magazine at the cost Munsey asked for. Munsey started his own distribution company and was quickly successful: the first issue at ten cents began with a print run of 20,000 copies but eventually sold 60,000, and within a year circulation had risen to over a quarter of a million issues.
''Munsey's Magazine'' included both fiction and non-fiction departments on topics such as art, music, and the theatre, and about famous people. In 1893 Munsey became one of the first publishers to regularly put a picture of a pretty girl on the cover, and circulation was also helped by the liberal use of illustrations. During the mid-1890s ''Munsey's'' often included images of nude and semi-nude women, though this became less common later in the decade. Circulation reached a peak of about 700,000 in 1897, and fluctuated thereafter until the 1910s, when it began to decline. It became a fiction-only magazine in 1921. Many well-known writers appeared in its pages, including [[O. Henry]], [[H. Rider Haggard]], [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], [[Bret Harte]], [[Max Brand]], [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[P. G. Wodehouse]], [[Joseph Conrad]], and [[Ella Wheeler Wilcox]]. By 1924 circulation was only 64,000. In 1929 it was merged with ''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]'', another of Munsey's magazines.
The change from a price of twenty-five cents to ten cents is considered by magazine historians to be the start of a revolution in magazine publishing. Before 1893, the bulk of most magazines' income came from the sale of subscriptions, though advertising was another source of income. ''Munsey's Magazine'' showed that it was possible to set a low price in order to increase circulation, and attract sufficient advertising revenue to make a substantial profit. Other magazines, notably ''[[McClure's]]'' and ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', quickly followed ''Munsey's'' example, but it was not until 1904 that another magazine, ''[[Everybody's Magazine|Everybody's]]'', managed to outstrip ''Munsey's'' circulation, reaching a figure of almost a million.
== Publication history ==
In 1882 [[Frank Munsey]] moved from [[Augusta, Maine]], to New York City, intending to launch a children's magazine.<ref>Britt (1972), pp. 58, 61.</ref> His main investor soon pulled out, leaving Munsey without enough capital to publish the magazine himself; instead he persuaded an existing publisher, E. G. Rideout, to take it on, with Munsey as manager and editor. The magazine was titled ''[[Argosy (magazine)|The Golden Argosy]]'', and the first issue was dated December 2, 1882.<ref name=":2">Britt (1972), pp. 64–66.</ref> Rideout went bankrupt in early 1883, and Munsey took over as publisher.<ref name=":02">Britt (1972), p. 66.</ref>
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>
=== ''Munsey's Weekly'' ===
[[File:Frank A Munsey 001.jpg|alt=A seated man in a suit|thumb|Frank Munsey]]
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 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''<nowiki/>'s circulation from 26,000 to nearly 50,000.<ref>Anonymous (March 5, 1890), p. 441.</ref> A review in ''[[Printers' Ink]]'' that month commented that none of the weekly papers paid well for syndicated writers, with ''Munsey's Weekly'' in the middle of the pack at $5 per column (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|5|1891|r=0}}|0}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}); only two magazines paid more than $5, and several paid less.<ref>Anonymous (February 12, 1890), p. 369.</ref> Circulation stayed below 40,000, which was not enough to meet its costs, and in two and a half years the magazine lost over $100,000 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|100000|1891|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=":1">Mott (1957b), p. 609.</ref>
=== ''Munsey's Magazine'' ===
[[File:Cover of Munsey's Magazine for November 1893.jpg|alt=Head and shoulders of a woman|left|thumb|Cover of ''Munsey's Magazine'' for November 1893]]
In October 1891 Munsey changed the ''Weekly'' to a monthly, titled ''Munsey's Magazine'', and [[Richard Titherington]], one of Munsey's earliest employees, was given the editorship.<ref name=":3">Mott (1957b), pp. 609–610.</ref> The size was reduced from quarto to standard,{{#tag:ref|"Standard" is the name given to the usual size of popular magazines of the era; typically {{convert|7|x|10|in|abbr=on}} – the same size as "pulp", which is used for [[pulp magazine|magazines printed on pulp paper]].<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
The change to a monthly schedule did not help the circulation of ''Munsey's''.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":3" /> The financial pressure on Munsey intensified, but he was able to obtain a loan for $8,000 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|8000|1893|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) through an old friend, John Fogler, who was at that time working for the First National Bank of Leavenworth in Kansas. In the [[Panic of 1893]] the bank called in the loan, and Munsey offered Fogler half-ownership in his publishing company if he would take on the loan. Fogler declined and Munsey was forced to borrow the money elsewhere, at 18% interest.<ref name=":9" />
Late in 1893 Munsey lowered the price of ''Munsey's'' to ten cents. This was not a completely new idea: the ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]'' was priced at ten cents (and had been launched earlier in the decade at only five cents),<ref name=":4" /><ref>Mott (1957b), pp. 536–539.</ref> though it was targeted at women rather than a general audience.<ref name=":16" /> Some of the established general magazines were also retreating from the older standard of twenty-five or thirty-five cents: ''[[McClure's]]'' was launched in June 1893 at fifteen cents, and ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' cut its price to twelve and a half cents the next month.<ref name=":4">Mott (1957b), pp. 3–5.</ref><ref>Munsey (1907), p. 89.</ref> ''The Epoch'', which Munsey had acquired in 1892 and merged with ''Munsey's'', had cost ten cents,<ref name=":13" /> but there had been no successful general illustrated magazine at that price.<ref name=":14">Mott (1957b), p. 610.</ref> The change brought Munsey into conflict with the [[American News Company]] (ANC), the distributor of almost all magazines of that time. ANC typically charged about five cents per copy for distributing a twenty-five or thirty-five cent magazine, but Munsey wanted a higher profit than this would give him.<ref>Munsey (December 1899), pp. 331–337.</ref> Initially ANC refused to handle the magazine at any price, but eventually they offered him four and a half cents. Munsey told them that his price was six and a half cents, and decided to bypass ANC. He notified about ten thousand dealers that ANC would not carry ''Munsey's Magazine'', but that it could be had directly from the publisher for seven cents in New York plus the cost of shipping. Munsey knew many of the dealers, and added personal letters to the notification, but fewer than a hundred orders came in response.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":23">Britt (1972), pp. 82–86.</ref><ref name=":24">Munsey (May 1898), pp. 222–223.</ref>
[[File:Munsey's Magazine advertisement October 1893.png|alt=Advertisement including "The Reader Pays it: Middlemen make the profits and the reader pays the bills ... Munsey's has got there! Reduced from 25 cents to 10"|thumb|upright=2|Advertisement in the New York ''Sun'' on October 7, 1893 for ''Munsey's Magazine'' at the ten cent price<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anonymous |date=October 4, 1893 |title=The Reader Pays It |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-munseys-magazine-advertisement/142759171/ |access-date=March 5, 2024 |work=The Sun |location=New York |pages=7
At the suggestion of [[Charles Anderson Dana|Charles Dana]] of the New York ''[[The Sun (New York City)|Sun]]'', Munsey had already set up a distribution company, named Red Star News, and Dana now gave Munsey credit to run advertisements in the ''Sun'' for the magazine. Munsey wrote again to ANC and told them he was raising his price to seven cents. He did not know that ANC were now receiving thousands of orders for ''Munsey's'' from dealers: ANC sent someone to his office in response to his letter, asking for a price for 10,000 copies. They offered to pay five and three-quarter cents, but Munsey stuck to his seven-cents price. Munsey continued to advertise: the advertisements said "On all news stands", though at first this was far from the truth.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":23" /><ref name=":24" /> A few orders began to come in, and within ten days all 20,000 copies had been sold. Two more printings brought the total to 60,000.<ref>Britt (1972), pp. 84–85.</ref>
The advertisements and production costs brought Munsey's debts to $150,000 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|150000|1893|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}). Munsey was purchasing paper on four-month credit, and the planned increase in the print run of each issue, prompted by the success of the first ten-cent issue, meant Munsey's indebtedness to his paper supplier would increase very rapidly. The paper supplier visited Munsey to say that he had talked to others in the trade, and was convinced that it was impossible for Munsey to make a success of a ten-cent magazine. Munsey was able to persuade him to extend more credit, and was quickly proved right as circulation soared over the next couple of years.<ref name=":5" /> The print run for November 1893 was 60,000; for December it was 100,000; for February 1893 it was 200,000; and in October 1894 it was 275,000.<ref name=":6">Mott (1957b), p. 611.</ref><ref name=":5" /> The half-million mark was reached in April 1895, and in 1897 circulation peaked at 700,000.<ref name=":5">Britt (1972), pp. 85–87.</ref><ref>Mott (1957b), pp. 611, 617.</ref> ''Munsey's'' remained the circulation leader among general magazines until late 1904, when ''[[Everybody's Magazine]]'', propelled by a [[Muckraker|muckraking]]{{#tag:ref|"Muckraking" is the name given to the rise, in the early years of the twentieth century, of investigative journalism focused on political corruption.<ref>Mott (1957b), pp. 207–208.</ref>|group=note}} series about finance, reached a circulation of almost a million.<ref>Mott (1968), p. 81.</ref><ref name=":7" /> Advertising income per issue grew with the circulation, from under $3,000 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|3000|1894|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) in October 1894 to over $30,000 in December 1895.<ref>Anonymous (March 1896), p. 760.</ref><ref name=":6" />
[[Rotary printing press|Rotary presses]], developed in the 1860s and gradually improved over succeeding decades, began to be used for magazines in the 1880s, and in 1898 Munsey acquired one that could produce tens of thousands of issues an hour.<ref>Reed (1997), p. 42.</ref> ''Munsey's Magazine'' was not initially printed on [[Pulp (paper)|pulp]] paper, and is not always regarded as a [[pulp magazine]], but by 1900 it was using pulp paper for the [[Section (bookbinding)|signatures]] that did not include any illustrations, with better paper where photographs were reproduced.<ref>Reed (1997), p. 70.</ref>{{#tag:ref|For example, ''The Adventure House Guide to the Pulps'' only lists issues from July 1909 onwards; ''Bookery Fantasy's Ultimate Guide to the Pulps'' only lists a selection of issues; and ''The Blood 'n' Thunder Guide to Pulp Fiction'' does not mention it.<ref>Ellis et al. (2000), pp. 166–167.</ref><ref>Cottrill, Tim (2001), pp. 327–328.</ref><ref>Hulse (2013), pp. 39, 399–406.</ref>|group=note}}
=== 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 [[Halftone|halftones]], which were cheaper than [[Woodcut|woodcuts]], and paper prices were low.<ref name=":7" /><ref>Mott (1957b), p. 5.</ref> The result was a very profitable magazine.<ref name=":7" /> Three-color covers began with the November 1899 feature, but did not become the norm until 1903. Color covers required a [[History of printing#Flat-bed printing press|flatbed printing]] process, but the rest of the magazine was printed on rotary presses; the covers were added to the rest of the magazine by hand until Munsey acquired machines to automate the process. From 1905 color began to appear on some internal pages as well, though the quality was often poor as the three colors were not always correctly aligned.<ref>Reed (1997), p. 104.</ref><ref>Munsey (December 1899), pp. 328–331.</ref>
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>
Circulation continued to drop, to 130,000 in 1920, and advertising sales fell. ''The Argosy'' had merged with another of Munsey's magazines, ''[[The All-Story Magazine|All-Story]]'', in 1920, and was retitled ''Argosy All-Story Weekly''; the combined magazine's circulation was 500,000, far ahead of ''Munsey's''. ''Munsey's'' was switched to an all-fiction policy, like ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', in 1921, but circulation was down to 64,000 by 1924, the last year for which Munsey reported separate figures.<ref name=":18">Mott (1957b), pp. 617–618.</ref> Munsey died in 1925, and [[William Thompson Dewart|William Dewart]] took over as publisher.<ref>Mott (1957b), p. 618.</ref> In 1929 the two magazines were reorganized: ''Munsey's'' became ''All-Story'', and ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'' became simply ''Argosy.''<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Magazine Data File |url=http://www.philsp.com/data/data018.html#ALLSTORYLOVE |access-date=February 21, 2024 |website=Galactic Central
== Contents and reception ==
=== 19th century ===
''Munsey's Weekly'' included humorous pieces, but also a gossip column about politics and the 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 <nowiki>''</nowiki>Argosy<nowiki>''</nowiki> began its fiction-only policy at the end of 1896, Munsey heavily re-used reprinted fiction from the magazine's earlier monthly issues. For example, 12 of the 18 contributions to the October 1896 ''Argosy'' were reprints from issues of ''Munsey's Magazine'' from between November 1891 and April 1893.<ref>Moskowitz (1970), p. 304.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Magazine Contents Lists: Page 234 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00234.htm#A7 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303112125/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00234.htm#A7 |archive-date=March 3, 2024 |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref>
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>
Articles on famous people, both European aristocrats and American magnates and politicians, were common; these included a series on "Prominent American Families", and a series by [[Theodore Dreiser]] on American writers. [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Thomas Brackett Reed|Thomas B. Reed]] each wrote articles for ''Munsey's'' in 1899, and a series called "My Favorite Novelist and His Best Book" brought contributions from [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], [[Bret Harte]], and [[Frank R. Stockton]].<ref name=":15" /> Munsey argued that the short unsigned articles by his house staff, in departments such as "In the Public Eye", "The Stage", "In Vanity Fair" (society events and gossip), and "The World of Music", had "done more than anything else to individualize the magazine [and] to popularize it".<ref name=":16" /> Mott agrees, commenting that "Literary Chat" and "The Stage" were accurately reflective of dramatic and literary fashion, and occasionally included "acute and sensible criticism".<ref name=":16" />
=== 20th century ===
[[File:Robert Hobart Davis from 1930 Time.png|alt=Head of a man|thumb|Bob Davis]]
In the 1900s, when the [[Muckraker|muckraking]] movement was at its height, Munsey refused to join the trend, saying later that he was "keenly interested in a constructive policy, not a destructive policy. ''Munsey's Magazine'' has never been committed to the muck-raking theory, and never will be."<ref name=":17">Mott (1957b), p. 615.</ref> Munsey's political bent was always [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], but his admiration for Theodore Roosevelt led him to support the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912–1920)|Progressive Party]] in 1912, and ''Munsey's'', along with Munsey's other publications, was strongly for Roosevelt during the Republican convention.<ref name=":17" />
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
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 "circus freaks": unusual people such as midgets. The story was filmed in 1932 as ''[[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]''.<ref>Server (2002), p. 224.</ref>
== Assessment ==
''Munsey's Magazine'' revolutionized the popular magazine market by proving that a general magazine could be successful at ten cents.<ref name=":122">{{Cite web |last1=Ashley |first1=Mike |last2=Eggeling |first2=John |last3=Langford |first3=Dave |name-list-style=amp |date=March 21, 2022 |title=SFE: Munsey's Magazine |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/munseys_magazine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727125013/https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/munseys_magazine |archive-date=July 27, 2023 |access-date=March 1, 2024 |website=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]}}</ref><ref name=":19" /><ref>Britt (1972), p. 91.</ref> ''[[McClure's Magazine]]'' dropped its price from fifteen cents to ten cents in July 1895, and ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' followed suit in November; the three magazines were the leaders of the field, with ''Munsey's'' obtaining a head start in circulation because it had taken the [[First-mover advantage|first move]] to the lower price.<ref>Mott (1957b), pp. 590, 596.</ref> It was not until 1912 that ''McClure's'' finally overtook it.<ref>Mott (1957b), p. 596.</ref> Selling these magazine for ten cents meant that advertising support was required for the magazines to be profitable. Magazines such as ''Harper's'' and ''Atlantic'', who were regarded as the leaders of their field, cost twenty-five to thirty-five cents, and their editors saw their market as "the best people, not the most people", in the words of one magazine historian.<ref name=":21">Pendergast (2000), pp. 30–31.</ref> The revolution ''Munsey's'' began led to a huge expansion of the market for general magazines, and the new leaders of the field were published by men primarily interested in making money, rather than in culture.<ref name=":21" /> Magazines ran advertisements before ''Munsey's Magazine'',<ref>Schneirov, Matthew (1994), p. 67.</ref> but relying on advertising rather than subscriptions for income became the dominant business model for consumer magazines in the 20th century.<ref>Compaine (1982), p. 17.</ref>
Munsey's biographer, George Britt, described Munsey and McClure as "great rivals of those days ... great business man matched against great editor". McClure considered Munsey "the greatest business man that ever entered the magazine field".<ref name=":20">Britt (1972), pp. 92–93.</ref> McClure published what he liked, believing that what pleased him would please his readers, whereas Munsey published what he thought would be popular, but McClure felt that Munsey was the best editor in the business.<ref name=":20" /> Other assessments of Munsey have not been so kind: "a man with no real sense of what values or ideas he wanted his magazine to convey" is one academic comment.<ref>Pendergast (2000), p. 48.</ref>
Mott summarizes the magazine's history by saying it was "never a first-class magazine ... sometimes there was quality as well as quantity in the magazine, but there was a shocking amount of mediocrity".<ref name=":19">Mott (1957b), pp. 618–619.</ref> John Tebbel, a historian of magazines, agrees: "''Munsey's'' was never as good a magazine as ''McClure's'' or ''Cosmopolitan''; its level was nearer the mediocre."<ref>Tebbel (1969), p. 175.</ref>
== Bibliographic details ==
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| colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left" |Issues of ''Munsey's Magazine'', showing volume/issue number.<ref name=":22" />
|}
John Kendrick Bangs was the editor from January to June 1889,<ref name=":11" /> and from then until the magazine became a monthly the editorial tasks were managed by Munsey's staff, with no named editor.<ref name=":1" /> Richard H. Titherington was made editor of the monthly ''Munsey's Magazine'' from its first issue in 1891,<ref name=":3" /> and stayed in that role until 1929.<ref name=":12">D'Orsay (February 1929), p. 28.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Titherington was still listed as editor in September 1928, and his managing editor, W. M. MacMahon, was still listed as managing editor rather than editor in February 1929, only eight months before the final issue.<ref name=":12" /><ref>Anonymous (September 1928), p. 16.</ref> A managing editor is typically responsible for the daily operations of a publication.<ref>Sumner & Rhoades (2006), p. 19.</ref>|group=note}}
Many issues of ''Munsey's Weekly'' may no longer exist; David Reed, in his history of popular magazines, reports that "it would appear that the first five volumes, that contain the weekly issues, are lost".<ref>Reed (1997), p. 69.</ref> Almost no academic institutions and libraries have any copies of the weekly issues.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Munsey's weekly {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/866886305 |access-date=March 4, 2024 |website=Worldcat |language=en
=== Other details ===
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