Yesterday, I received the first shipment of Astounding from an online order I’d placed. When I got home I found the September 1939 issue waiting for me. It is a thing of beauty.

This will end up as the third issue I read in my vacation in the Golden Age. I’ve got shipment confirmations for about a dozen other early issues, but I thought I’d post this one because it is in remarkably good shape for a 71 year old pulp magazine.  The issue contains the second part of a Hubbard serial (under his Engelhardt pseudonym) but is probably more famous for Ted Sturgeon‘s first genre fiction, “Ether Breather”.

I must admit that I skimmed through the magazine lustily last night. Even the ads are worth talking about. But you’ll have to wait until I receive the July 1939 issue, which is the one I’ll be starting with. In the meantime, enjoy the Rogers cover on this one. (And click the image for a larger version.)