BBB Pulp Pick - Modern Mechanics and Inventions

Continuing our exploration of Fawcett publications starting from Cap't Billy's Whiz Bang, a flagship of Fawcett magazines in the 1920s was Modern Mechanics and Inventions. From November 1928 to July 1929 it serialized reprints of three Edgar Rice Burroughs novels: The Moon Maid as "Conquest of the Moon" (Nov 28 to Feb 1929), At the Earth's Core as "Lost Inside the Earth" (Feb to Apr 1929), and Under the Moons of Mars [aka A Princess of Mars] as "Carter of the Red Planet" (Apr to Jul 1929).

Over time, the pulp was retitled Modern Mechanix and Inventions, shortened to Modern Mechanix and then altered to Mechanix Illustrated before it became Home Mechanix in 1984. Acquired by Time Inc., it was retitled yet again to become Today's Homeowner in 1993.

The illustrator Norman Saunders became a Fawcett staffer in 1927 after doing some spot illustrations for Fawcett editor Weston "Westy" Farmer, and Saunder's first cover illustration was for the August, 1929 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.

Larry Eisinger, the workshop and science editor of Mechanix Illustrated, spearheaded the national "do-it-yourself" movement as the editor-in-chief of Fawcett's How-To book series and special interest magazines. He created Fawcett's Mechanix Illustrated Do-It-Yourself Encyclopedia and The Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia, which had combined sales of almost 20 million copies.