An American fantasy and science fiction magazine operating between 1950 and 1958,
Imagination was first published in October 1950 by Clark Publishing Company and edited by its owner, Raymond Palmer. The following year, after just two issues, the magazine was sold to William L. Hamling's Greenleaf Publishing Company. Hamling subsequently edited
Imagination through until it was forced to close down following the liquidation of its distributor, American News Company.
Although short-lived,
Imagination was nevertheless more successful than most other science fiction magazines from this era, lasting a total of 63 issues. The magazine has been dismissed by some modern literary critics, for its low-quality space opera and adventure fiction, despite becoming popular for this type of reading entertainment. While few of the stories from
Imagination have received recognition, the magazine did publish Robert Sheckley's first professional sale, "Final Examination" (May 1952) and printed fiction by Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein and John Wyndham. Among the Australian or Australian-based authors to have their works published in the magazine was
A. Bertram Chandler.
