Pulp photo gallery updated

Don’t you wish you had a time machine?

Can’t you just imagine standing in the glory of a sidewalk newsstand overflowing with lavishly colored pulp magazines?

The first sentence above is also the opening sentence on the next-best-thing to a time machine: ThePulp.Net’s Pulp Photos page.

Today we added the photo above. It’s of a woman making a purchase at a New York newsstand in May 1936. There are copies of Short Stories (May 10, 1936), Spicy Detective (June 1936), Detective Fiction Weekly, Argosy, Wild West Weekly, Popular Western and Western Story Magazine for sale.

As of today’s addition, we have 54 different photos of pulp magazines on newsstands. There are 61 total photos, including closeups that offer a better look at the pulps.

Let me point out what I just said: “pulp magazines on newsstands.”

That’s right. Even if we get a terrific photo of a vintage newsstand, it has to have pulp magazines visible to make it into the gallery. Otherwise, as far as we’re concerned, it’s just a nice old photo.

Take the photo from the 1940s below.

A note on the back of the photo says: “This is only part of the News Stand (sic). Thought Bud would be interested. They have papers from every part of the world.”

This one had real promise. At first glance, it looked like a whole storefront loaded with newspapers and magazines — including pulps, no doubt.

But, as you can see at right, a closer look revealed that whoever took the photo didn’t hold the camera steady. The image is blurred so that you can’t tell exactly what magazines are on display.

Sadly, that photo won’t be included in the Pulp Photos gallery.

You win some, you lose some.

As you hopefully know, ThePulp.Net has put together the best online gallery of pulp newsstands. We’ll continue adding to it as often as we can.

If you have a color photo of pulps on a vintage newsstands, we’d love to share it with pulp fans. Of course, if you have a black and white photo you’d like to share, please let us know.