Black Mask (magazine)

Black Mask
September 1929 cover of Black Mask, featuring part 1 of serialization of The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
EditorH. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan; Philip C. Cody (1924–1926) later Joseph Shaw, and Fanny Ellsworth (1936–1940)
CategoriesHardboiled
FrequencyStarted monthly, then twice a month after August 1922, then monthly in 1926
PublisherPro-Distributors Publishing Company, 1920–40; Popular Publications 1940–51
Founded1920
First issueApril 1920
Final issue1951
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Websiteblackmaskmagazine.com

Black Mask was a pulp magazine first published in April 1920 by the journalist H. L. Mencken and the drama critic George Jean Nathan. It is most well-known today for launching the hardboiled crime subgenre of mystery fiction, publishing now-classic works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, Cornell Woolrich, Paul Cain, Carroll John Daly, and others.