Anthony Boucher : A Treasury of Great Science Fiction


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According to the editor this two-volume set from 1959, which includes four full-length novels, "is not a definitive anthology ... not a scholarly survey ... not, indeed, any kind of shaped or patterned anthology, but simply a very large collection of stories which are (I think) of high quality and (I hope) unfamiliar to many readers." Thus, along with a number of still-famous stories, there are a few that have never again been reprinted since and have languished into obscurity.

These volumes were ubiquitous for years, beginning 1960, as an introductory selection for members of the US Science Fiction Book Club (editions shown in the photo).

Boucher was a founding editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and produced annual The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction anthologies from 1952 to 1959. These two volumes were his last anthologies.

  • A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Vol. 1, (Doubleday, 1959) [isfdb]
  • A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Vol. 2, (Doubleday, 1959) [isfdb]


Combined Contents by Author and Title


Poul Anderson
  • Brain Wave (Ballantine 1954) -- Vol. #2
  • The Martian Crown Jewels (EQMM Feb 1958) -- Vol. #1
    • Alfred Bester
  • The Stars My Destination (NAL/Signet 1957) -- Vol. #2
    • Nelson S. Bond
  • Magic City (Astounding Feb 1941) -- Vol. #2
    • Ray Bradbury
  • Pillar of Fire (Planet Stories Sum 1948) -- Vol. #1
    • Arthur C. Clarke
  • The Other Side of the Sky (Infinity Oct 1957) -- Vol. #2
    • Mildred Clingerman
  • Letters from Laura (F&SF Oct 1954) -- Vol. #2
    • Richard Deming
  • The Shape of Things That Came (F&SF Oct 1951) -- Vol. #1
    • Philip K. Dick
  • The Father-Thing (F&SF Dec 1954) -- Vol. #1
    • George Paul Elliott
  • Sandra (F&SF Oct 1957) -- Vol. #1
    • Robert A. Heinlein
  • The Man Who Sold the Moon (The Man Who Sold the Moon, 1950) -- Vol. #2
  • Waldo (Astounding Aug 1942) -- Vol. #1
    • Malcolm Jameson
  • Bullard Reflects (Astounding Dec 1941) -- Vol. #2
    • C. M. Kornbluth
  • Gomez (The Explorers, 1954) -- Vol. #1
    • Henry Kuttner
  • The Children's Hour (by HK & C. L. Moore) (Astounding Mar 1944) -- Vol. #1
  • Piggy Bank (Astounding Dec 1942) -- Vol. #2
    • Oscar Lewis
  • The Lost Years (Knopf 1951) -- Vol. #2
    • Judith Merril
  • Dead Center (F&SF Nov 1954) -- Vol. #2
    • C. L. Moore
  • The Children's Hour (by Henry Kuttner & CLM) (Astounding Mar 1944) -- Vol. #1
    • Joel Townsley Rogers
  • Beyond Space and Time (All-American Fiction Feb 1938) -- Vol. #1
    • George O. Smith
  • Lost Art (Astounding Dec 1943) -- Vol. #2
    • Theodore Sturgeon
  • The (Widget), the (Wadget), and Boff (F&SF Nov 1955 (+1)) -- Vol. #1
    • A. E. van Vogt
  • The Weapon Shops of Isher (Greenberg 1951) -- Vol. #1
    • E. B. White
  • The Morning of the Day They Did It (New Yorker Feb 1950) -- Vol. #2
    • John Wyndham
  • Re-Birth (Ballantine 1955) -- Vol. #1

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