Candidates for Early Swedish Magazines of Fantastic Nature
Ever since Sam J Lundwall in his book Science Fiction - What's It All About
launched Hugin as Sweden's and possibly the world's first sf magazine, we've
been interested to know: What was really the first sf magazine? Or: At least
the first Swedish one?
Sam J later added fuel to the fire by writing about a mysterious 19th Century
magazine named Stella, something nobody has been able to find the slightest
trace of (so it's possibly a hoax). I have myself been able to discover a
fantastic magazine from 1682 (!), Relationes Curiosa, which I wrote about in
the Foundation journal (No 82, 1998).
The hunt has continued. I found a couple of more candidates this autumn and
discussed them on the SKRIVA list (a list for sf/f/h writers founded by Yours
Truly way back in 1997) and to a degree also on the Fictionmags list. The last
weeks we've made gigant leaps in our research. We found more in a few days than
well-established sf experts have for many decades! (One wonders how deep
someone writing a book on sf history really digs?)
Responsible are basically me (finding info in eg books about press and
publishing history, followed by googling) and Rickard Berghorn (who has been
digging into databases). But anyone is welcome to join in the research and
share any further information!
Below a commented list of candidates for early Swedish magazines of the
fantastic, before 1940 when Jules Verne Magasinet started. If the link given
says Libris it goes to the Royal Library's - our national library - catalogue
which may be decoded without knowing too much Swedish. If the link goes to
SKRIVA on Freelists, it's info probably in Swedish - you may try Google
Translate - but some stuff may be in English (I have written about some mags in
English for Fictionmags consumption). I also include info about magazines known
since before.
It is yet only superficial research. We don't yet know much about some of the
magazines, to what degree they contained fiction and if that was of a
"fantastic" nature. I have below put an * at magazines which probably had
mostly or a high degree of fiction contents (but I may be wrong). Hopefully I
and others will spend some time in the Royal Library and elsewhere to find out.
*Relationes Curiosae /title means Curious News/ ,1682, a popular science
magazine translated from a German magazine of the same title; myths and legends
are described, often in a "fictionalised" manner as was the style of writing
way back then; exists in the Royal Library in Stockholm
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Notes-on-early-sff-magazines ;(in ENG)
*Talltrasten /title means The Pine Thrush/, 1866, eleven issues plus a test
issue, edited by Emily Nonnen, translator and author of fables; a book with
selected contents from Talltrasten was published and can be downloaded (
https://archive.org/details/talltrasten01nonnenemily ;); seems to have contained
fales and fantastic stories (eg early ones about zombies), info
http://libris.kb.se/bib/17192058 ;
Framtiden /title means The Future/, 1869-71, a general cultural magazine with
occasional articles on eg astronomy; has been sanned by Projekt Runeberg (
http://runeberg.org/framtiden/ ;); a total of 36 issues, published by one Karl F
B von Bergen; mentioned in Libris,
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Tidskrriften-Framtiden ;(This is definitely
not a fiction magazine, but it's on this list because of the title...The
Future!)
Stella /title is a female name/, 1886-88, according to Sam J Lundwall a
supplement to the weekly Svenska Familj-Journalen Svea; all info about it comes
from Sam J but independent researchers have despite much effort not found any
traces of it (eg going through the Royal Library and university libraries and
catalogues).
*Kamraten /title means Comrade/, 1893-1911, a magazine from the so called IFK
sports movement, which Sam J Lunwall wrote about in Jules Verne Magasinet in
2007; it seems to have published quote a lot of sf (about an early Mars story
by Julius Regis
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:332093/FULLTEXT02.pdf ;), info
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/IFK-Fandom
*Bredablick /title means Wide View/, 1899-1903, "fiction and scientiic magazine
for all"; publisher Carl Andersson, and motto "I no human eye sees you, the eye
of Odin surely sees you" (from Esaias Tegnér); contents unclear but fiction is
mentioned, is in Libris http://libris.kb.se/bib/8461556?vw=full , info ;
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Bredablick-sknliterrvetenskaplig-tidskrift-fr-alla-1899-1903
XXe seklet /title means XXth Century/, 1902-04, cultural and spritual magazine,
published by the illustrious Mary Karadja (spritual medium and Turkish
princess! -
http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/karadja-princess-mary-despina-d-ca-1935),
of possible interest here; published with 20 issues, info http://libris ;
/kb.se/bib/9654391?vw=full
*Mellan fantasi och verklighet /title means Between Fantasy and Reality/,
1905-16/or longer/, supplement to the weekly magazine Allers, with fantastic
stories and general adventure stories, mentioned in literature on the history
of the press and an advertisment which mentions it is on the net, info
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Between-Fantasy-and-Reality ;(in ENG)
*Hugin, 1916-20, Otto Witt's idosyncratic magazine with popular technology for
the youth, often told in a short-story-like way, a few issues scanned by
Projekt Runeberg; was re-published as microfiche cards by Sam J Lundwall in the
1970's, info https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugin_(tidskrift)
*Fantasi och verklighet /title means Fantasy and Reality/, 1921, from publisher
B Wahlströms, well known for their long running juvenile book series (which
still goes on!); seems to have had much sf/f in the beginning but later more
general adventure tales; a scanned cover exists on the net (
http://alephbok.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/fantasi-och-verklighet-nr-2.jpg ;)
as well as tables of contents for the twelve issues published, info
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/nnu-en-bortglmd-svensk-fantastiktidskrift-fr-1921
*Fantasi /title means Fantasy or Imagination/, 1924, "the modern weekly",
unclear contents but is mentioned in Libris; unfortunatly it says that the
copies - it seems 8 issues were publishe - have been lost (that's a scandal!),
mentioned in Libris http://libris.kb.se/bib/10434045?vw=full&tab1=vers , info ;
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Fantasi-den-moderna-veckotidningen-1924
Spök-Journalen (later renamed Mystik-Journalen) /titles mean The Ghost Journal
and The Mysterious Journal), 1929-30, "a magazine for the mysterious magic,
ghosts and other phenomena", mentioned in Libris, 7 issues (but only one in
1939 when the name had changed; motto "Between heaven and earth there is much
we don't understand", in 1930 changed to "There is much between heaven and
earth"; unlcear if it had fiction stories, mentioned in Libris
http://libris.kb.se/bib/9665780?vw=full and ;
http://libris.kb.se/bib/9673466?vw=full , info ;
//www.freelists.org/post/skriva/SpkJournalen-och-MystikJournalen-1929-1930
*Sagomagasinet /Title means The Saga Magazine/,1936-38, published by
Sagoförlaget owned by the publishing amily Elanders; editor John Lorén; antstic
stories for the younger mentioned in Libris, scas of covers are on the net,
info //www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Sagomagasinet-193638 ;(in ENG)
I think this information will rewrite the history of Swedish sf/f/h magazine
publishing. The genre history books didn't get it right.
The English speaking world is about 500 million people strong, and little
Sweden will become 10 million in February. The English language magazine market
should be about 50 times bigger than ours.
I we in our little corner can find the interesting fantastic magazines just
listed - how much is there to be found in English? There should be scores and
scores of titles nobody today have yet heard of! Magazines with science
fiction, fantasy and/or horror way before Weird Tales and Amazing Stories!
Before Hugo Gernsback was born, even! Two good sources are, 1) books about the
general history of publishing and the press, 2) databases at national and
university libraries (which often can be accessed on the net).
So go out there and dig.
--Ahrvid
(Denna engelsk version av magasinchecklistan har gått på ett par utländska
listor.)
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