in search of books on zine history...

[Kris M.]

Hello everybody,

I´m especially interested in zine history & am always looking for new info on the subject. So far I´ve read the basics:

Stephen Duncombe´s Notes from Underground: Zines & the Politics of Alternative Culture

V. Vale´s Zines! Volume I & Zines! Volume 2 (Re/Search Publications)

R. Seth Friedman´s The Factsheet Five Zine Reader: The Best Writing from the Underground World of Zines

I´ve also read a curious little book entitled One Hundred Years of the Fossils which tells the fascinating story of the Library of Amateur Journalism which was started by Edwin Hadley Smith.

Does anybody out there know where I can get an affordable copy of Frederic Wertham´s 1973 book The World of Fanzines: A Special Form of Communication? The cheapest copy I found online was like $35. I´m not interested in collecting books, I just want to read them...

[False Start Distro]

I was interviewed for Girls Make Media by Mary Celeste Kearney when I was in high school. I think she focuses mainly on internet-based stuff, but I know she interviewed quite a few zinesters/distro owners. I was like 16 when she interviewed me about my distro and I didn't really realize it was going to be in a real book, so it's pretty embarrassing and I used a lot of exclamation points!

[Foxy Mudslide]

Do you know how I can get a copy of any Brazilian zines? I'd be really interested in learning more about them.

Roberto Holanda said:

great work! here in UERJ (Rio de Janeiro University, Brazil) I participate in a group that studies the educational possibilites of comics, and the making of zines is an important research. that´s why I made some studies about the history of zines productions in Brazil. I wrote some texts explaning the history of brazilian zines that i can translate to you and send.

[Dan 10things]

Lotsa good suggestions. Chip Rowe's website was mentioned, but I don't think his excellent 1997 book "The Book of Zines: Readings from the Fringe" was. If you want great history and interviews with some of the bigger name zinesters, that's the book, along with the Factsheet Five Zine Reader that give an excellent look at the '90s zine explosion. The Vickie Vale ones are good companions to them.

For earlier zine history:

"How to Publish a Fanzine" by Mike Gunderloy, 1988, published by Loompanics
I tracked down a copy on Ebay for $5 last year. This I think was really the first book to document how to put out your own zine (it had been done in other zines dating back at least to the early '80s of course). Lotsa good history in here of how the zine publishing scene was in the 80s.

"The World of Zines" by Mike Gunderloy and Cari Goldberg Janice, 1992, Penguin Books
Gunderloy (ex-publisher of the legendary Factsheet 5) was probably the first zinester to get a book publishing deal with a non-indie publisher. And really, this book pre-dated the big zine explosion of the '90s... it probably could even be said to have helped it happen. It's packed with reviews of a wide variety of zines being published at the time (way wider variety back then than today I might add), along with a pretty in depth guide to publishing your own zine - from getting started, to printing and mailing and distribution.

[Jerianne]

Re:
Does anybody out there know where I can get an affordable copy of Frederic Wertham´s 1973 book The World of Fanzines: A Special Form of Communication? The cheapest copy I found online was like $35. I´m not interested in collecting books, I just want to read them...

I would suggest for this book, or any of the older, out-of-print books that have been mentioned, you go to your local library and ask to get them via Interlibrary Loan. Some libraries offer this for free, some charge a small fee (mainly to cover shipping costs), some charge a nominal fee of $5 or $10. At any rate, it's likely to be much cheaper than buying a copy, and if you're not interested in collecting, it's definitely the best route to take.

This post is a great reminder to me that we need to make sure there are entries for each of these books listed in ZineWiki!

[Jerianne]

Oh, also: Fred Wright's dissertation about zines has some good historic info: From Zines to EZines, Electronic Publishing and the Literary Underg....

[Dan 10things]

BTW, someone is doing a new book on fanzines coming out next year that from their description sounds pretty cool. I don't know how anyone managed to get a book deal writing about zines in today's publishing market, but it's a British person, s/he contacted me for a cover scan of my old zine a few weeks ago.

[Giz]

take a look, if you're not aware yet of celestin freinet' experimental schooling, and the imortance of letterpress self-publication among it ! and I'd be interested to read about that

Roberto Holanda said:

great work! here in UERJ (Rio de Janeiro University, Brazil) I participate in a group that studies the educational possibilites of comics, and the making of zines is an important research. that´s why I made some studies about the history of zines productions in Brazil. I wrote some texts explaning the history of brazilian zines that i can translate to you and send.

[kira hysteria]

FANZINES: The DIY Revolution by Teal Triggs