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Edward Groff Conklin was a leading science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories (co-edited with physician Noah Fabricant), wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects as well as a published poet. From 1950 to 1955, he was the book critic for Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...

.

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,527. In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly magazine....

, Conklin was educated at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, and graduated from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in 1927. He drifted restlessly through a series of jobs in the 1930s and 1940s, working for several government agencies during WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He was a book editor for Robert M. McBride & Co. and did public relations work for the Federal Home Loan Bank, the Office of Strategic Services, the Department of Commerce, the National Cancer Institute and the American Diabetes Association. He was also a former scientific researcher for the N.W. Ayer & Son
N.W. Ayer & Son
N. W. Ayer & Son was the first advertising agency in the United States. It was founded in Philadelphia in 1869 by 21-year-old Francis Wayland Ayer, who named the agency after his father, N. W. Ayer. This agency was named the 14th largest advertising agency in the United States, according to a guide...

 advertisiing agency.

Short fiction

It was as an editor of fiction that Conklin found his niche, beginning as early as 1930. At the age of 26, while employed as an assistant manager at New York's Doubleday Bookstore, he arranged for the hardcover publication of a story from The Smart Set
The Smart Set
The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by Colonel William d'Alton Mann.-History:Mann had previously published Town Topics, a gossip rag which he used for political and social gain among New York City's infamous elite known as "The Four Hundred." With The Smart Set,...

 Magazine (November 1913), reprinting "A Flood" by the Irish writer George Moore
George Moore (novelist)
George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s...

 in a limited edition of 185 signed copies. Four years later, Conklin and Burton Rascoe
Burton Rascoe
Arthur Burton Rascoe , was an American journalist, editor and literary critic of the New York Herald Tribune....

 published The Smart Set Anthology (1934, reissued as The Bachelor's Companion in 1944), the first collection of stories from that important literary magazine.

Conklin's interest in short fiction continued with the 1936 publication of The New Republic Anthology: 1915-1935
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

, edited with Bruce Bliven. The following year, he married the former Lucy Tempkin on October 1. During the next decade, he wrote books about subways, rental libraries and home construction, in addition to poetry and numerous magazine articles.

Science fiction

Conklin didn't grow up a reader of science fiction, but came to it later in life. In his Galaxy Five-Star Shelf column of December, 1954, he states, "...I actually did not become an earnest devotee of the form until 1944, about a year before the Atomic Age actually opened....The first item I remember reading that could be classified as science fiction was H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

' Men Like Gods, back in 1924 when I was a college sophmore. It had a tremendous effect on me...." A roommate from 1930 provided him with "bound volumes of tear-sheets of early weirds, fantastics and 'scientifictions' from the old Argosy
Argosy (magazine)
Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.-Launch of Argosy:In late September 1882,...

, All-Story and others...." He sent a proposal for his first science fiction anthology to Crown Publishers in 1944, and the book was issued in 1946, several months ahead of the other great sf anthology of that year, Adventures in Time and Space
Adventures in time and space
Adventures in Time and Space was an anthology of science fiction stories edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas and published in 1946. When it was re-released in 1975 by Ballantine Books, Analog book reviewer Lester del Rey referred to it as a book he often gave to people in order to...

 edited by Raymond J. Healy
Raymond J. Healy
Raymond John Healy was a pioneering American anthologist who edited four science fiction anthologies from 1946 to 1955, two with J. Francis McComas...

 and J. Francis McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....

.

After his first science fiction anthology, The Best of Science Fiction
The Best of Science Fiction
The Best of Science Fiction, published in 1946, is the first of more than forty science fiction anthologies edited by Groff Conklin.-Contents:* "Concerning Science Fiction," an essay by John W. Campbell* Introduction by Groff Conklin...

 (1946), weighing in at 785 pages, he followed with A Treasury of Science Fiction (1946). Readers soon began to seek out books with his strikingly unusual and exotic name on the cover—The Science Fiction Galaxy (1950), The Big Book of Science Fiction (1950) and Possible Worlds of Science Fiction (1951). The prominent display of Conklin's huge hardcover anthologies in the "New Titles" section of libraries led many readers to discover science fiction during the genre's early 1950s boom. In the Grip of Terror (Permabooks
Permabooks
Permabooks was a paperback division of Doubleday, established by Doubleday in 1948. Although published by Doubleday's Garden City Publishing Company in Garden City, Long Island, the Permabooks editorial office was located at 14 West 49th Street in Manhattan....

, 1951) was an offbeat collection of horror tales, and he collaborated with Lucy Conklin on The Supernatural Reader in 1953, a year before her death. Four years later, he married Florence Alexander Wohlken.

His book review column, "Galaxy's Five-Star Shelf", was a key feature in Galaxy Science Fiction from its premiere issue (October 1950) until October 1955. During that period, he also edited Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....

's Science Fiction Classics series, which he conceived as an inexpensive alternative to hard-to-find small-press editions of such titles as Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

's Beyond This Horizon
Beyond This Horizon
Beyond This Horizon is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It was originally published as a two-part serial in Astounding Science Fiction and then eventually as a single volume by Fantasy Press in 1948.-Overview:The novel depicts a world where genetic selection for increased health,...

 and Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

's I, Robot
I, Robot
I, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are...

, although the first title in the series (Henry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...

's Fury) was that story's first book publication.

The Weather-Conditioned House (1958) is not science fiction but a practical discussion of methods involved in weather-conditioning a house. The book was authoritative enough that it was reissued with an update in 1982.

In the last three years of his life, Conklin was the staff science editor for The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. He lived in New York at 150 West 96th Street. At the age of 63, he died of emphysema in his summer home at Pawling, New York
Pawling (village), New York
Pawling is a village in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The population was 2,233 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area...

.

A major survey of Conklin's contribution to science fiction is Bud Webster
Bud Webster
Clarence Howard "Bud" Webster is a science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps best known for the Bubba Pritchert series, which have won two Analytical Laboratory readers' awards from...

's 41 Above the Rest: An Index and Checklist for the Anthologies of Groff Conklin. Webster's study prompted this comment from Barry Malzberg:
Groff Conklin was the most important science fiction anthologist through the years of the genre's true second generation, that point at which its previously magazine-bound masterpieces were being systematically located, aligned and placed into permanent format. His contribution over the period of two decades was irreplaceable and all of our postwar history exists in the penumbra of his work. Bud Webster has in this index granted an act of scholarship and homage of equal irreplaceability.

Conklin anthologies

  • The Smart Set Anthology
    The Smart Set
    The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by Colonel William d'Alton Mann.-History:Mann had previously published Town Topics, a gossip rag which he used for political and social gain among New York City's infamous elite known as "The Four Hundred." With The Smart Set,...

     (with Burton Rascoe, 1934)
  • The New Republic Anthology, 1915-1935]] (with Bruce Bliven, 1936)
  • The Best of Science Fiction
    The Best of Science Fiction
    The Best of Science Fiction, published in 1946, is the first of more than forty science fiction anthologies edited by Groff Conklin.-Contents:* "Concerning Science Fiction," an essay by John W. Campbell* Introduction by Groff Conklin...

     (1946)
  • A Treasury of Science Fiction (1948)
  • Big Book of Science Fiction (1950) Variant Title: The Classic Book of Science Fiction (1978)
  • The Science Fiction Galaxy (1950)
  • Possible Worlds of Science Fiction (1951)
  • In the Grip of Terror (1951)
  • Invaders of Earth (1952) Variant Title: Invaders of Earth (abridged) (1955)
  • Omnibus of Science Fiction (1952)
  • Crossroads in Time (1953)
  • Science-Fiction Adventures in Dimension
    Science-Fiction Adventures in Dimension
    Science-Fiction Adventures in Dimension is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by Groff Conklin, first published by Vanguard Press in hardcover in 1953...

     (1953) Variant Title: Adventures in Dimension (1955)
  • Strange Travels in Science Fiction (1953)
  • The Supernatural Reader (1953) with Lucy Conklin
  • Science Fiction Thinking Machines (1954) Variant Title: Selections from Science Fiction Thinking Machines (1955)
  • Strange Adventures in Science Fiction (1954)
  • 6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction (1954)
  • Science Fiction Adventures in Mutation
    Science Fiction Adventures in Mutation
    Science Fiction Adventures in Mutation is a theme anthology of science fiction stories edited by Groff Conklin, published in hardcover by Vanguard Press in 1955...

     (1955)
  • Science Fiction Terror Tales (1955)
  • Operation Future (1955)
  • Science Fiction Omnibus (1956)
  • The Graveyard Reader (1958)
  • Br-r-r-! (1959)
  • Four for the Future (1959)
  • Six Great Short Science Fiction Novels (1960)
  • 13 Great Stories of Science Fiction (1960)
  • Great Science Fiction by Scientists (1962)
  • Enemies in Space (1962)
  • Twisted (1962)
  • Worlds of When (1962)
  • Great Stories of Space Travel (1963)
  • Great Science Fiction About Doctors (1963) with Noah D. Fabricant
  • 12 Great Classics of Science Fiction (1963)
  • 17 X Infinity (1963)
  • Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales (1963) with Isaac Asimov
  • Dimension 4 (1964)
  • Five-Odd (1964) Variant Title: Possible Tomorrows (1973)
  • Giants Unleashed (1965) Variant Title: Minds Unleashed (1965)
  • 13 Above the Night (1965)
  • 5 Unearthly Visions (1965)
  • Now & Beyond (1965)
  • Another Part of the Galaxy (1966)
  • Science Fiction Oddities (1966)
  • Seven Come Infinity (1966)
  • Elsewhere and Elsewhen (1968)
  • Seven Trips Through Time and Space (1968)

Sources

  • R. Reginald. Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature: A Checklist; Volume 2: Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II (p. 860). Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1979. ISBN 0-8103-1051-1

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
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