The Argosy, Vol. 61, No. 4

A pack of foxhounds in full cry floods the lower two-thirds of the cover, their lean bodies stretched horizontal across rough pasture while two riders clear a split-rail fence behind them — all rendered in loose, confident watercolor by C. W. Harting. The bold Art Nouveau lettering of *The Argosy* anchors the top; a red tagline promises "Two Complete Novels — Two New Serials" for ten cents. Founded by Frank A. Munsey in 1882 and converted to cheap wood-pulp paper in 1896, *Argosy* essentially invented the pulp magazine format — mass fiction sold at newsstand price, its painted covers signaling genre at a glance. The adventure, crime, and fantasy stories it ran seeded directly the narrative DNA of the American comic book.