Edgar Allan Poe and Pulp Magazines

Researching the history of pulp magazines must inevitably include the history of mystery and detective fiction. It is widely recognized that Edgar Allan Poe invented detective fiction with the publication of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841 (over 45 years before Sherlock Holmes appeared in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in Britain).

The first pulp magazine was Frank Munsey’s Argosy Magazine in 1896. This was soon followed by the Street and Smith publication, The Popular Magazine, in 1903. More important to what would become the pulp magazine industry, Street and Smith had earlier published The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square as a dime novel in September, 1886. This was the first appearance of the Nick Carter character who appeared regularly in Street and Smith magazines for nearly 20 years and then had several revisions well into the 1950s.

Nick Carter was originally conceived by John R. Coryell and Ormond G. Smith (son of Francis S. Smith, one of the founders of Street & Smith). Frederic Marmaduke van Rensselaer Dey agreed to write the stories and stayed with that assignment for 17 years. The character was clearly very successful for Street and Smith and also for the pulp magazine business in general. Nick Carter was a crack shot, a versatile and skilled fighter, a talented linguist, and a master of disguise. He was honest and clean – he didn’t smoke, drink, curse or swear. He was a truly mythical hero and became a model for future fiction detectives.

Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin was Poe’s detective in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”.  Dupin had a superior intellect and the ability to use is mind quite creatively to solve the crime. The narrator of the story is Dupin’s nameless friend (these characters have come to be known as Watsons after Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick, Dr. Watson). 

Lines can clearly be drawn that trace detective characters back almost 175 years to Poe. So, we must also consider how Poe’s story was originally published. Poe has also been said to have been the first well-known American writer to have tried to support himself in this trade, although not a very good living. In fact Poe had anything but a good life. An orphan, he never seemed to have much of a relationship with his guardian, John Allan, and financial support was repeatedly an issue.

Times were particularly difficult for writers in the late 1830s when Poe was trying to succeed as a writer. A financial crisis in the United States, known as the “Panic of 1837” had devastated the economy  –  recovery went well into the 1840s. There were no international copyright laws, so publishers used whatever they were able to with little regard for payment. This did not give American authors much bargaining power and publishers were very casual about paying for what they published. Poe worked for a number of “magazines” and journals and began working for Graham’s Magazine in 1840.

It is at Graham’s Magazine that Poe’s contribution to what would become "detective fiction" took place. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” was published in April, 1841. A month later, “A Descent into the Maelstrom” was published. The third of Poe’s ground-breaking detective stories starring C. Auguste Dupin, “The Masque of the Red Death”, was published in May, 1842.  

Graham’s Magazine might be considered a significant model for the publishers that more than a half century later would be publishing what have come to be known as “pulp magazines”.  During the 1840s a typical number of Graham’s would consist of 3 or 4 short stories, a light essay on manners, a biographical sketch, a literary article, a considerable amount of poetry, narrative, lyrical and didactic, an outdoor sketch by “Frank Forrester,” a travel article, fine arts and book review departments, a “chat” with the editor, as well as a colored fashion plate and one or two art plates by well-known engravers.