1916-1921 - Saucy Stories
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| Saucy Stories (UK) Dec1 1922 - from philsp.com |
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| Indicia from back cover of Saucy Stories (UK) |
As noted in a previous blog entry, Atlas' first incursion into the UK distribution of US magazines was Puck, which Atlas distributed from November 1914 until 20th June 1917 edition, at which time Puck had switched to subscription-only for foreign readers by its US publisher Hearst , and Atlas lost the contract to distribute in the UK.
Walter S. Dexter, Atlas' publisher, had his eye on distributing other American magazines. Some magazines had already enjoyed UK distribution. Certainly the US pulp magazine Parisienne had found its way to the UK since 1915 and the US edition of the pulp Saucy Stories since its Nov 1916 edition [1]. Copies of both pulps had been lodged with the British Library by whoever distributed those early US editions in the UK.
1916 was also the year of the establishment of the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce in London, in which Dexter was yet to take an interest.
By July 1917, Dexter had competition for distribution rights. UK bookseller W.H. Smith and Sons had already secured distribution rights for The Smart Set in and around London.[2]
By 1918, American magazines were not uncommon in Great Britain. Snappy Stories, Smart Set, Saturday Evening Post, Century, Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine and Judge were all known to the British public. [3]
As H.L. Mencken later pithily wrote [6]:
"Word had reached us that the English unintelligensia had come to know and love fifth-rate American Fiction during the War."
In 1919, with the war in Europe over, the Smart Set circulation manager John ("Jack") .W. Glenister was sent to England and France by E F Warner to try to open a market for returned copies of Saucy Stories and Parisienne. Like all newsstand magazines at the time, pulps were sold to US retailers as "SoR" (Sale or Return). If those returned copies, usually destroyed or defaced by the retailer, could be sold on to a UK wholesaler, then overall profitability of the titles would increase.
Glenister arrived in Liverpool 10th April 1919 on the White Star ship "Celtic", and then traveled to London to stay at the Waldorf hotel. He had a list of ten potential UK distributors to visit, and with one - Hachette and Company - in Paris, France. His intention was to travel both to England and France for the purposes of negotiating the "Distribution and Sale of" magazines [4].
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| J.W. Glenister 1920 |
- Rolls House Publishing Co
- William Dawson & Sons,
- Dorland Advertising Agency
- W.H. Smith & Son
- Atlas Publishing Co., 25 Bride Lane, London
- Gander & Gander (??)
- London Associated Wholesale Newsagents
- Horace Marshall & Son
- George Vickery
- City and Suburban Pub Co
Of these companies, only Rolls House, William Dawson & Sons, Dorland, W.H. Smith, Atlas and Horace Marshall & Son had a telephone at their offices in London. The remaining wholesalers were minor players at best, and were quickly de-selected.
Of the remaining contenders, William Dawson & Sons had a single location plus an export department, and had a business partnership with Rolls House Publishing, based at the same location,(5 Breames Buildings, Chancery Lane) which focused on producing periodicals ; W.H. Smith were a UK household name, and already had a track record of distributing The Smart Set in England and had bookseller kiosks across the country ; Horace Marshall & Son had four wholesale locations in London, but no nationwide presence ; and Atlas had both distribution facilities and retail bookshops in London, plus a track record of distributing Puck.
Dorland was an unusual contender, having no active wholesale business. However, Dorland was a known quantity. It had started life when John M Dorland founded the Dorland Agency in Atlantic City, USA, establishing a London office in 1905. It had a track record of successfully moving into different business arenas, and it had a very impressive office at 16 Regent Street.
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| © Historic England - Dorland Advertising Agency 1920 |
According to H.L. Mencken [6],
"He [Glenister] made a deal with one of the English wholesale newsagents and returned triumphant, but when the contracts he had signed were examined by Crowe's lawyers it appeared that he had made himself a party to them and was entitled to a substantial commission."
Glenister returned to New York sailing from Plymouth, England , leaving on May 21st 1919, arriving back n New York on 31st May.
Within days, the industry trade paper Printers Ink reported on June 12th 1919:
Magazines Have British Editions
The Parisienne and Saucy Stories New York, have established British editions, to be distributed through the British News Company, a new company owned by the Dorland Advertising Agency, of London.
This was followed up by a glowing press release published in Advertising & Selling v.29:no.1-27 (August 23 1919 edition):
American Organizes British News Company
John W. Glenister, of The Warner Publications, recently returned to this country from a two months' visit to France and England . While in Great Britain, Mr. Glenister established British editions of Parisienne and Saucy Stories, and was instrumental in organizing the British News Company, a concern which will handle the independent distribution of American magazines in Great Britain.
Hedley P. Somner, of the Dorland Advertising Agency, an English firm, co- operated with Mr. Glenister in the establishment of the new concern, which will be owned by his agency. While in London, Mr. Glenister met James R. Quirk, publisher of the Photoplay Magazine, who immediately proceeded to establish a British edition of his paper upon learning of the organization of the new company.
The British News Company is at the present time distributing large quantities of the Pictorial Review, Popular Science, Metropolitan and Physical Culture.
Glenister's meeting with James R Quirk took place between Quirk's arrival in London at the Savoy Hotel around 8th May 1919 (having arrived in Liverpool the previous day) and Glenister's departure from Plymouth on May 21st. Their respective hotels were (and are) only 0.2 of a mile from each other.
Glenister's final paragraph above is probably a spin on the fact that the new British News Company had acquired a job lot of said magazines and was in process of selling them. At this time Physical Culture had no London agent, relying on foreign postage subscriptions, and the first British distributor was W.T. Edgar & Sons. Similarly, Popular Science's London agent in 1919 was International News Company
[Check internet archive for issues of Photoplay, Metropolitan, Pictorial Review in Aug 1919, to see who was distributing them]
Glenister's business contact at Dorland, Hedley P Somner, had a colorful past. Born in Derby, England in 1876, he had immigrated to the US in 1890, but had returned to the UK to subsequently get married. Over the next thirty years he had a variety of jobs (Representative of the Swiss Government Railroad; Manager of a Foreign Business; etc), frequently traveling between Liverpool, New York and Boston . By 1918, he had settled in Paddington, London.
As H.L. Mencken related:
"Warner.....decided to go on with the contracts for a while. When it developed that the profit under [the contracts] was very small, he refused to deliver any more remainders."
I can find no evidence so far of the Dorland Advertising Agency creating a separate British News Company. In fact, there is no record of The British News Company existing as a separate legal entity in the London telephone directories, or in the records of Companies House.
However, Dorland did set up a Wholesale Newsagency Department in an unprepossessing property at 41 Lisson Grove, Paddington, London for the year of 1920 only, far away from their head office at 16 Regent Street, within half a mile of Hedley Somner's residence in Chalfont Court. By 1921, the office had closed, presumably as a result of Warner cancelling the contract.
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| The Dorland Wholesale Newsagency address as of 2024. © Google |
Of the remaining list of potential distributors investigated by Glenister, Atlas' willingness to be both publisher and distributor and take on publishing risk, made it the prime contender for a new relationship with Warners.
Certainly, early in 1921 Atlas agreed with Warner that Inter-Continental Publishing Corp would produce a version of Saucy Stories specifically for the UK, likely starting with the Jan 1 1922 issue, to be printed in the US with English pricing, to be shipped to the UK, with Atlas designated as the Sole Agent for Great Britain. This time Warner would have a firm commitment and predictable profit from Atlas for a defined number of copies per issue, with no considerations of Sale or Return.
In the absence of an extant copy of Saucy Stories UK Vol 1, #1, an educated guess (thanks to Sai S. of pulpflakes.com) - Saucy Stories UK publication (Vol 1 #1) would have started with the Jan 1 1922 issue if we rely on volume numbering and regular publication based on a known gap with the US version. So the assumption is that the UK edition was US edition Vol XI, #6.
My assumption is that the UK version of Saucy Stories was printed at the end of the US print run, with a brief pause to change the pricing plates and back cover advertising copy.
[Check : Did Atlas also take over the distribution of Popular Science, Metropolitan, Pictorial Review and Physical Culture from Dorling?
Check : Did Atlas create a business relationship with MacFadden at this time? MacFadden ads appeared on the back of the UK printing Saucy Stories by 1923a.Need to check. ]
By the summer of 1921, Atlas had secured the distribution of Popular Science from the International News Company.
Mainly About Books (M.A.B.) Aug-Sep 1921. Atlas ran a classified ad for a sample issue of Electrical Experimenter, as well as back issues of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. They had not adopted the soubriquet "The American Magazine Depot" yet.
In Oct 1921 Atlas ran the same ad in M.A.B.
The October 1921 ad marked the last time of Atlas being based at 21 Bride Lane. By December 1921, they have moved next door to 18 Bride Lane.
In the Winter of 1921 the Atlas also started publication of their own UK-produced pulp, Fascinating Fiction Library, advertised in the Winter 1921-1922 edition of Mainly About Books (M.A.B.).
FASCINATING FICTION LIBRARY, 6d. Each issue complete, no serials. The Liveliest Fiction published. First four issues post free 1/9d. from The Atlas Publishing; Co, Ltd., 18 Bride Lane, London, E.C.4.
Whether the stories were sourced from UK writers or back issues of US pulps is yet to be established.
1921 also marked the appearance of a new company Atlas Publishing Co. Waste Material Publications with offices at 28, Bishopsgate. [per phone book]. This company was set up to publish the Waste Material publications of the Atlas Publishing Co. (Inc in NY).
© Ian Baker
[1] The British Library's holding of Saucy Stories is dated Nov 1916 to May 1925, as published in New York and London. Index does not mention Atlas. Needs investigation.
[2] Sat 28th July 1917 Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald reported the theft of a batch of 19 "Smart Set" magazines sent by Messrs W H Smith & Sons, London to Messrs F.J. Parsons, Ltd, Sandgate Rd. The Smart Set was at this time published by The Smart Set Co. Inc., 456 Fourth Avenue, New York. Owned by E.F. Warner, George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken and E.F. Crowe.
[3] Sat 23rd Feb 1918 - The Sheffield Weekly Telegraph ran an "American Wit and Humour" page with content from American magazines. includes a witty paragraph comparing how Snappy Stories (Clayton), Smart Set, Saturday Evening Post, Century, Ladies Home Journal would write the story of a man and woman in a passionate embrace. Also featured a mention of "Everybody's Magazine". All material from "Judge".
[4] J W Glenister passport issued March 3rd 1919. Also his application said he intended to travel on the Olympic from NY on Feb 28th, which he obviously did not make. Passport application found on Ancestry.com
[5] The first issue of Saucy Stories (UK) in the FictionMags Index is dated July 1 1922, and the volume numbering says vol 3 #1. The contents are identical to the July 1 1922 US edition, which is numbered vol. 12 #6. At the time, Saucy Stories was published twice a month, and had 6 issues in a volume.
[6] H.L. Mencken, My Life As Author & Editor . Chapter XXIII
[7] https://theminters.co.uk/getperson.php?personID=I519&tree=eyke
