Credited with being the first mass-market magazine, Munsey's Weekly, later Munsey's Magazine, was a 36-page American magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey. His idea was to produce a periodical 'of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout. The magazine was soon selling 40,000 a week. In 1891 Munsey changed its publication to a monthly and subsequently renamed it Munsey's Mazagine. One of its first hits was Hall Caine’s 'The Christian' (1896-97). It also published stories by F. Marion Crawford, H. Rider Haggard, Anthony Hope during the in early years.
Munsey's circulation began to fall during the early 1900s and by the 1920s was down to 60,000. A decision was made in 1921 to convert the magazine to an all-fiction publication and phase out the illustrations. The demand for fiction led to a marked increase in science fiction stories.
In October 1929 Munsey's merged with Argosy All-Story to form All-Story. This magazine continued on a monthly schedule under various titles until May 1955.
