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    The Wide World Magazine [v84, #503, February 1940] (Newnes Ltd., 1/-, 96pp, standard)

    Indicia notes that “Stories must be STRICTLY ORIGINAL AND TRUE IN EVERY DETAIL, and be accompanied by a written statement to this effect.” (emphasis in the original)

    Coated paper; heavily illustrated in black and white. First four pages (1-4) and last eight (5-12) are individually numbered and contain ads and two regular columns; the story content “guts” of the magazine has its own numbering system (pp. 337-420) obviously continuous throughout a volume. Good quality coated paper.

    Cover depicts a rough-looking individual (hobo?) sitting in the woods in front of a tent; a rifle lies beside him. He holds in his hands a money belt into which he is pouring gold coins while looking warily around.

    The gimmick of this magazine, as the note above indicates, is that all stories are reputedly true—though the blurbs regularly note that the names have been changed. Well, maybe. (It does allow for a nice feature that I don’t recall having seen before—a map of the world on page 337 with the “locality of every article and story in this issue” marked. I make it Canada two; US three; Brazil one; the UK one; Africa two; Australia two; India one; Philippines one; and the South Atlantic one.

    There’s a photo of Merlin Moore Taylor on page 351. Aside from numerous photographs, interior art is by W.R.S. Stott; S. Tresilian; Stanley L. Wood; Kenneth Inns; T.T. Cuneo; George Soper; Jack Nicolle; H.M. Brock; Claude Bendall; and Cyril Holloway. Details supplied by Denny Lien.

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