History of Atlas Publishing and Distributing - Blog #4

Initial Growth - 1922 - 1924

The next three years were to see a huge growth in Atlas' American magazine business distribution business, and the early steps in actually publishing UK editions of American pulps.  

By the start of 1922, in addition to the prize of a British edition of Saucy Stories, Atlas had secured UK distribution rights for twelve additional US magazines: 8 from Street & Smith , 2 from Ridgeway, 1 from The Century Co and 1 from Howard, Ainslee & Co [1]

The relationship with Street & Smith would continue for forty years.

Unlike the Saucy Stories deal, these magazines were likely sourced from remaindered US editions, returned from retailers and unsold editions returned from US wholesalers.

Street & Smith was by far their biggest supplier.

17th Mar 1922 saw the first UK classified advert by a retailer for Saucy Stories at 6d, advertised as 

"Special Lines at D. G. McLAREN’S., STATIONER & NEWSAGENT,  57 BARCLAY STREET, STONEHAVEN" Included "NOVELS, from 6d upwards. AMERICAN MAGAZINES, 9d each. SAUCY STORIES, 6d" [2]

Stonehaven was in the far north-east of Scotland.

The Summer 1922 edition of industry paper Mainly About Books (M.A.B.) contained an advert for Atlas listing 12 American magazines of which they had "back issues at job prices". No mention is made of Saucy Stories, presumably because there was no significant back-issue inventory of that title.

I suspect that Atlas had bought back issues in bulk - effectively to create a de facto monopoly for the distribution of American Magazines in the UK - and now styled themselves "The American Magazine Depot".

In later years, Walter S Dexter, Managing Director and Publisher of Atlas, would create a separate company "THE MAGAZINE COMPANY" at 18 Bride Lane for the purposes of selling to trade customers.

Dexter was also working on making inroads into the distribution of Bernarr MacFadden's magazines and books dedicated to physical improvement. This was a popular genre with the public.

By August 1922, Atlas had secured a contract to distribute US editions of Macfadden's Physical Culture ,  displacing MacFadden's first London Agent agent W T Edgar Co. Ltd, of 51-52 Chancery Lane, who had only held the contract for one year.

Black Mask

The success of the British edition of Saucy Stories led US publisher E.F. Warner to strike a similar deal with Atlas to print a British edition of Black Mask, to be published by Atlas in the UK.

Atlas started distribution of Black Mask with the 15th June 1923 issue. This was to be printed in the US by publishers Pro-Distribution of NY until Nov 1939, when Atlas started publishing a UK edition printed by Morrison & Gibb of London & Edinburgh, as a result of the start of hostilities in World War Two. 

I have yet to locate a cover scan of the the first UK edition of Black Mask, but I assume that the US cover below is that also used for the British edition.

The US edition of first Atlas Black Mask 1923-06-15 - Courtesy of Galactic Central.

The versions of Black Mask published by Atlas - printed for Atlas in the US from 1923 until the Nov 1939 issue - are erroneously referred to as "British Reprint" versions, but actually they should be termed "UK Price Variants", because they were printed in the same print run as the US edition, in the US. From a collector's viewpoint, they are rarer than the corresponding US edition, and should logically attract as price premium.

Indicia of Saucy Stories showing US printing and UK publishing by Atlas.

UK edition of Black Mask V1 #2, July 1 1923 - courtesy of Galactic Central

US Version for comparison  - courtesy of Galactic Central

In addition to distributing the US edition of MacFadden's Physical Culture, Atlas struck a deal to carry MacFadden's book range also. The back cover of Aug 1 1923 Saucy Stories UK edition carries ads for Bernarr MacFadden's self-improvement books, as Atlas continued to style itself "The American Magazine Depot", a term first adopted the previous summer . 

Dexter also had his eye on officially distributing the pulps published by MacFadden, who was the owner of True Detective and True Romances, amongst others.

By 1924, Atlas was starting to be recognized as a force in the publishing industry. The Newspaper Press Directory for 1924 listed Atlas as the publisher of Black Mask[3], but omitted mention of the other Atlas publication Saucy Stories. Black Mask had acquired a certain respectability due to the quality of its writers, but Saucy Stories was seen as decidedly down-market. A letter in the Sporting Times of 5th July 1924 read: 

"She was reading. it was when I saw what she was reading that I got the shock of life. It was a magazine called Saucy Stories"

Publisher Walter S Dexter had laid the foundation for a strong American magazine import business, but to be successful he needed institutional respectability and the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce would provide that in 1925.

© Ian Baker 2024

[1] Summer 1922 edition of industry paper Mainly About Books (M.A.B.)

[2] Source: Mearns Leader, Kincardinshire, Scotland.  Not clear why Saucy Stories British edition was cheaper than the American imports, especially as the cover price was 9d.

[3] Newspaper Press Directory  -  1924  (p 232)