Imagination Unlimited is a 1952

1952 in literature

The year 1952, in literature involved some significant events and new literary publications.-Events:*J. L. Carr takes over as headmaster of Highfields Primary School, Kettering, which will eventually furnish the subject matter for his novel, The Harpole Report.*November 25 - Agatha Christie's play...

 anthology of science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short stories edited by Everett F. Bleiler

Everett F. Bleiler

Everett Franklin Bleiler was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called...

 and T. E. Dikty

T. E. Dikty

Thaddeus Maxim Eugene Dikty was one of the earliest science fiction anthologists.He started the first "Best of the Year" anthologies, called The Best Science Fiction, which ran from 1949 until 1957. In 1953, he married writer Julian May, and in 1957 the two started an editorial service for...

 and published by Farrar, Straus & Young

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Farrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. Known primarily as Farrar, Straus in its first decade of existence, the company was renamed several times, including Farrar, Straus and Young and Farrar, Straus and Cudahy...

. An abridged edition was published in the UK by The Bodley Head

The Bodley Head

The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name has been used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books since 1987...

 in 1953 containing six of the stories from the US edition. The remaining stories were published in the UK by John Lane

John Lane (publisher)

-Biography:Originally from Devon, where he was born into a farming family, Lane moved to London already in his teens. While working as a clerk at the Railway Clearing House, he acquired knowledge as an autodidact....

 as Men of Space and Time. Ten of the stories originally appeared in the magazine Astounding; the others came from Thrilling Wonder Stories, Imagination

Imagination (magazine)

Imagination was an American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in October 1950 by Raymond Palmer's Clark Publishing Company. The magazine was sold almost immediately to Greenleaf Publishing Company, owned by William Hamling, who published and edited it from the third issue,...

and Galaxy Science Fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...

.

Contents

• Introduction, by Everett F. Bleiler
  Everett F. Bleiler
  Everett Franklin Bleiler was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called...
  
   & T. E. Dikty
  T. E. Dikty
  Thaddeus Maxim Eugene Dikty was one of the earliest science fiction anthologists.He started the first "Best of the Year" anthologies, called The Best Science Fiction, which ran from 1949 until 1957. In 1953, he married writer Julian May, and in 1957 the two started an editorial service for...
  
  
• "What Dead Men Tell", by Theodore Sturgeon
  Theodore Sturgeon
  Theodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...
  
  
• "Referent", by Ray Bradbury
  Ray Bradbury
  Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
  
   (Thrilling Wonder Stories)
• "Blind Man’s Buff", by Malcolm Jameson
  Malcolm Jameson
  Malcolm Jameson was an American science fiction author. An officer in the US Navy, he was active in American pulp magazines during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. His writing career began when complications of throat cancer limited his activity. According to John W...
  
  
• "Pressure", by Ross Rocklynne
  Ross Rocklynne
  Ross Rocklynne was the pen name used by Ross Louis Rocklin, an American science fiction author active in the Golden Age of Science Fiction....
  
  
• "The Xi Effect", by Philip Latham
  Robert S. Richardson
  Robert Shirley Richardson was an American astronomer, born in Indiana. He also published science fiction using the pseudonym Philip Latham.-Bibliography:* The Xi Effect, 1950...
  
  
• "Old Faithful", by Raymond Z. Gallun
  Raymond Z. Gallun
  Raymond Zinke Gallun was an American science fiction writer.Gallun was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin...
  
  
• "Alas, All Thinking!", by Harry Bates
  Harry Bates (author)
  Harry Bates was an American science fiction editor and writer. His 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master" was the basis of the well-known 1951 science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.-Biography:Harry Bates was born Hiram Gilmore Bates III on October 9, 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
  
  
• "Dune Roller", by Julian May
  Julian May
  Julian May is an American science fiction, fantasy, horror, science and children's writer who also uses several literary pseudonyms, best known for her Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu Series books.- Background and early career :Julian May grew up in Elmwood Park, Illinois, a suburb of...
  
  
• "Employment", by L. Sprague de Camp
  L. Sprague de Camp
  Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...
  
  
• "Dreams Are Sacred", by Peter Phillips
• "Hold Back Tomorrow", by Kris Neville (Imagination)
• "Berom", by John Berryman
• "The Fire and the Sword", by Frank Robinson
  Frank M. Robinson
  Frank M. Robinson is an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer.-Biography:Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois. The son of a check forger, Frank started out working as a copy boy for International Service in his teens and then became an office boy for Ziff-Davis...
  
   (Galaxy)

Except as noted, the stories originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction. "Referent" was originally published under the byline "Brett Sterling". "Employment" was originally published under the byline "Lyman R. Lyon".

Reception

P. Schuyler Miller

P. Schuyler Miller

Peter Schuyler Miller was an American science fiction writer and critic.-Life:Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a life-long interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.He...

, noting that the anthology was "built around more or less scientific concepts," praised it as "a good job, well done," meeting the standards of the editors' previous projects.