Time Traveller, The
Entry updated 27 April 2026. Tagged: Fan, Publication.
A very early US Fanzine or Amateur Magazine with nine issues, published in 1932-1933, initially monthly with #1 dated January and #9 dated Winter 1933. Edited by Allen Glasser; managing editor Julius Schwartz; associate editor Mort Weisinger. Forrest J Ackerman was billed as contributing editor, and Raymond A Palmer. was also involved.
The Time Traveller, which billed itself as "Science fiction's only fan magazine", has been cited as the first true fanzine. It was preceded by others, such as the clubzine of the US Scienceers group, The Planet (6 issues 1930), in which Glasser had been involved. Previous amateur publications had tended to be chiefly about science while The Time Traveller was unequivocally devoted to science fiction; The Planet had covered both science and sf. With this in mind Fancyclopedia 3 says of the The Time Traveller: "It may, however, be the earliest fanzine that wasn't a clubzine." Later issues were professionally typeset in letterpress by Conrad H Ruppert. One of the earliest sf Awards or proto-awards was The Time Traveller's poll for best sf of 1932, won by Edmond Hamilton's "A Conquest of Two Worlds" (February 1932 Wonder Stories) and inspiring Palmer's short-lived Jules Verne Prize.
In issue 9, Glasser, who had become involved in plagiarism disputes (a story he had published in Amazing in 1933 was shown to have been copied from a 1929 Munsey's Magazine), announced the incorporation of The Time Traveller into Science Fiction Digest, also launched in 1932, whose editorial team included Schwartz; this in turn became Fantasy Magazine 1933-1937. Full runs of The Time Traveller are very rarely found. [DRL/JC]
links
- The Time Traveller at Fanac.org
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