Science-Fantasy Review Volume Vol. III, No. 16
WILLY LEY recalls GERMANY'S CAPTAIN FUTURE In the early months of World War I, when I was still quite a small boy, the German Government issued a list of some 200 titles of "dime novels" which were verboten for the expressly stated reason of saving paper. On that list were the Captain Mors stories, which, if they are not entirely forgotten by now, live only as a dim memory in the minds of a few Germans old enough to have made their acquaintance as young men. It is doubtful if a file of them exists anywhere; and since I have only my own memory to rely on, I can give no precise details concerning their publication for those who may try to seek out any copies that have survived. But the highest issue number of an almost complete set I once saw was No. 180, which, if they were issued weekly, would account for a run from 1911 to '14. If it was a bi-monthly series, it would have started earlier, in SCIENCE-FANTASY REVIEW QUARTERLY: ONE SHILLING Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Office: 115 Wanstead Park Road, Ilford, Essex. Subscription rates: In Great Britain and Dominions (except Canada) 4/- per year. Single copies, 1/-., post free. In Canada and U.S.A., $1.00. per year. Single copies, 25c., post free. EDITOR:WALTER GILLINGS Vol. 3, No. 16AUTUMN '49 1908; and from what I remember of the style and printing technique of the covers on the early issues I suspect the longer run. It is even possible that the publication began as a monthly and accelerated later. I have also to admit that I don't know the name of the author of the stories; nor, I imagine, does anybody else who remembers them. They were published anonymously by a firm which had the name of Verlag Moderner Lekture, which means "Publishing house for modern reading matter," and when, round about 1930, I tried to look it up at the address given I found it did not exist any more. Whether the whole series was written by one man or whether several writers contributed to it is another matter on which I must plead ignorance. Thinking back, I am inclined, however, to attribute most of the stories to one man. Germany's periodical literature of that time ran the gamut from quality magazines—mostly monthlies—to weekly family magazines and news-weeklies. There were also fashion magazines and popular science magazines, plus a host of professional journals. But all-fiction magazines, as far as my knowledge goes, did not exist, either in "slick" or "pulp" form. Substituting for pulp magazines, however, were two types of periodical. One was known as Kolportage, and usually consisted of endless love stories, in 200 or 400 weekly instalments which dealers brought up the back steps to the maidservants. The other type had no accepted name, and compared most closely to the American dime novel of the same period. In fact, many of these publications were straight imitations, if not actual translations, of America's Nat Pinkerton, Nick Carter, Buffalo Bill, Texas Jack, etc. While they always had the same hero, each contained a complete story; and they were bought at stationery and candy stores. They were not handled either by the regular bookstores or the newsstands; and although the governmental verboten did not kill off all of them, those titles which remained did not last long. To the surprise of sociologists, all attempts to revive them after the war ended in failure: one may assume that the political street brawl substituted for Nat Pinkerton and Texas Jack. The bulk of this periodical literature was easily classifiable as detective or Wild West stuff, but the Captain Mors
In the early months of World War I, when I was still quite a small boy, the German Government issued a list of some 200 titles of "dime novels" which were verboten for the expressly stated reason of saving paper. On that list were the Captain Mors stories, which, if they are not entirely forgotten by now, live only as a dim memory in the minds of a few Germans old enough to have made their acquaintance as young men. It is doubtful if a file of them exists anywhere; and since I have only my own memory to rely on, I can give no precise details concerning their publication for those who may try to seek out any copies that have survived. But the highest issue number of an almost complete set I once saw was No. 180, which, if they were issued weekly, would account for a run from 1911 to '14. If it was a bi-monthly series, it would have started earlier, in
