stfdom n.

the realm of science fiction

Obs.

Fancyclopedia


SF Fandom

  • ?1941 The Bibliophan (#1) Aug. 3 page image R. G. Medhurst

    ‘Neil Bell’ exhibits what the unsympathetic might call ‘crankiness’ in a degree only equalled, in English stfdom, by S.Fowler [sic] Wright.

  • 1942 Yhos (#5) Winter 5 page image

    ‘Old Faithful’ was the only Tremaine story that ever appealed to my emotions as much as ‘Helen O’Loy’, ‘Rust’, ‘Lifeline’, ‘Jay Score’, etc, especially those by Del Rey, stfdom’s first and foremost ‘tear-jerker’.

  • 1944 L. Marlow Purely Personal in Banshee (#4) Mar. 12 page image

    Fanzines are full of articles, very idealistic articles, painting a rosy picture of Stfdom after the war.

  • 1947 Review of the Science Fiction Fan Publications in Startling Stories July 110/2 page image

    A monumental job by the VAMPIRE man, a 76-page ship of the line, featuring intelligent reviews of all phases of fandom and professional stfdom which features perhaps the best of the annual polls on just about everything.

  • 1952 P. Nowell Calling All Airwaves in Planet Stories Nov. 112/2 (letter) page image

    He also said that stfdom should write in about it.

  • 1959 R. Eney Fancyclopedia II 129 Dick Eney bibliography

    In practice most of the fan-pro prejudice Tucker remarks is turned against those their own sections of stfdom admit to be obnoxious—7th Fandom and the other Beanie Brigadiers, and the less scrupulous or more conceited professionals.

Research requirements

antedating 1941
Earliest cite

in Bibliophan
Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1952 cite from a letter to Planet Stories by Paul Nowell.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1947 cite from a fan magazine review in Startling Stories by the editor.
Fred Galvin submitted 1959 cites from Dick Eney's "Fancyclopedia II".
Bee Ostrowsky submitted a 1944 cite from Len Marlow.
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1942 cite from Yhos, the Widners’s fanzine.
Jeff Prucher submitted a cite from the first issue of Bibliophan. Though this issue has no internal dating whatsoever, Fancyclopedia authoritatively dates it to August 1941.

We would be grateful for any modern, non-historical evidence for this.

Last modified 2026-05-22 12:19:53
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.