Harry Turner's Footnotes to Fandom
FOOTNOTES TO FANDOM #27    | FOOTNOTES Page | Obituary Page |

 

An RFV&SDS Pictorial Archive:
   * SuperMancon of 1891 *
 

Little has survived of the history of the SuperMancon of 1891, which has now moved from legend into myth in the minds of most SF fans. Fanzines of the period have achieved a 100% “failed to survive” status, according to despairing notes slipped into gaps in the nation's fannish archives and all of the participants are “no longer with us”.
   Thus it has become impossible to confirm that the con was attended by one Herbert George Wells, and it inspired him to try his hand at “scientific romances” and led to the creation of the likes of The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898).
   But the archivists of RFV&SDS are nothing if not ruthless in their quests for vestigial traces of living history. And lo! they have uncovered a small stash of photographs, which provide documentary proof that this significant event in fannish history is no mere myth.


Memories of the 1891 SuperMancon

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Drunken author being transported to Con Hotel.

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The art auction.

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Female fan-eds have a Mini-con.

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Fanzine editor – the day after . . .

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“These hotels are never the same after a con.” (1)

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“These hotels are never the same after a con.” (2)

concept & pix picking by het, blurb by pht


FOOTNOTES TO FANDOM #27
a series of occasional pieces published by the Septuagenarian Fans Association
 

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