Sky & Telescope magazine is a monthly magazine considered a must-read by people who are serious about amateur astronomy. The premier issue was published in November 1941 and it has been published continually since that date.
The magazine actually came about by way of a union between two other magazines - Sky; Magazine of Cosmic News and Telescope; An Illustrated Magazine Of Astronomy. Hence the name of the combined publication.
Since it’s beginning, the content has been targeted at the serious amateur astronomer. For that reason, back issues remain popular today and are sought out by today’s serious amateur astronomers.
Complete runs of all twelve issues for the years 1960 to present show up on eBay fairly regularly and usually bring somewhere between $25 or less per year. Sets of all twelve issues from earlier years are harder to find and when they do show up on eBay they often bring prices that make keeping your eye open for them worth your while.
Recently, complete runs for several early years have been offered on eBay and brought the following prices:
- Both issues from 1941 - $91.00
- All 12 issues from 1942 - $162.50
- All 12 issues from 1943 - $122.50
- All 12 issues from 1944 - $56.03
- All 12 issues from 1945 - $105.50
- All 12 issues from 1946 - $152.50
- All 12 issues from 1947 - $177.50
- All 12 issues from 1948 - $62.00
- All 12 issues from 1949 - $132.50
- All 12 issues from 1950 - $200.00
- All 12 issues from 1951 - $107.50
- All 12 issues from 1952 - $112.50
- All 12 issues from 1953 - $76.00
- All 12 issues from 1954 - $82.00
- All 12 issues from 1955 - $51.00
- All 12 issues from 1956 - $127.50
- All 12 issues from 1957 - $56.00
- All 12 issues from 1958 - $37.00
- All 12 issues from 1959 - $24.50
The most likely places to find them are at estate sales, auction sales, and Friend Of The Library (FOL) book sales. Lengthy runs of Sky & Telescope magazine don’t show up that often, but I’ve bought four good sized runs over the last six or seven years.
One came from an auction sale and the other three sets came from FOL sales. Two of those three were a complete and a near complete runs that were withdrawn library copies. Although having the normal library markings, these two sets did nearly as well as the other two did when offered on eBay.
These are worth watching for and buying when the opportunity presents itself.
Photograph by Brandon Brubaker.
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