[Above: Two issues of Pluck and Luck: Complete Stories of Adventure]

• Left: Issue No. 76  November 15, 1899. “The Rocket or Adventures in the Air” by Allyn Draper. Frustrated pursuers stand agape as their quarry lifts off for a trip to the moon in a whirligig rocket. “The rocket mounted up in the air, and soared away. “Good-by” cried Harry.  Tell the justice I’ll report next year for sentence. I live in the Moon.” The three men were dumbfounded.”
• Right: Issue No.231 November 5, 1902. (Price: 5 cents). “Jack Wright and His Electric Air Schooner or The Mystery of a Magic Mine” by “Noname”. This is looking more seaworthy than airworthy. Jack Wright’s electric schooner saves two adventurers from agitated savages. “The crater dwellers  who had pursued them down the rocks, were guided to their location by their shouts and while the Sky Rocket was rushing through the air to their rescue the savages were climbing up the rocks from the plateau below, with the intention of attacking them.”

Pluck and Luck was an American magazine and the longest-running dime novel first published by Frank Tousey. The principal series character was Jack Wright. It primarily featured stories of adventure covering subjects including fire fighters, railroads, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, frontier life, finance and success, temperance, circus, science fiction and travel and exploration. All the stories were reprints from Tousey story papers Boys of New York, Golden Weekly, Happy Days and Young Men of America.

• Authors included Cecil Burleigh, Augustus Comstock, Francis W. Doughty, Thomas W. Hanshaw, Walter Fenton Mott, Dennis O’Sullivan, Luis Senarens, Harvey K. Shackleford, Cornelius Shea, George G. Small, William Howard Van Orden and others writing under house names, like ‘NoName‘.
• Pluck and Luck numbered 1605 issues from January 12, 1898 to March 5, 1929. The 32-page magazine was semi-monthly for the first 22 issues and then became weekly. Its size was 8 x 11 inches (through No. 1144) and 6 x 9 inches thereafter, featuring  colour covers. Issues No. 1002-1464 were published by Harry Wolff and the rest by Westbury.

Don’t be a sitting duck | Go read Pluck & Luck

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