 Factsheet Five #25, February 1988, featuring cover art by Freddie Baer | |
| Editor | Mike Gunderloy ("Æditor", 1982–1991) Hudson Luce (1991) R. Seth Friedman (1992–1998) |
|---|---|
| Categories | Zine reviews & culture |
| Frequency | quarterly (varied) |
| Circulation | 10,500/issue (1991)[1] |
| Publisher | Mike Gunderloy (1982–1991) Hudson Luce (1991) R. Seth Friedman (1992–1998) |
| First issue | 1982[2] |
| Company | Pretzel Press (?-1991) |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0890-6823 |
Factsheet Five was a periodical mostly consisting of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, its comprehensive reviews (thousands in each issue) made it the most important publication in its field, heralding the wider spread of what would eventually be called fanzine or zine culture. A number of underground artists and writers read or submitted their work to Factsheet Five, including Julie Doucet[3] and Jonathan Lethem.[4]
Before the widespread adoption of the web and e-mail beginning around 1994, publications such as Factsheet Five formed a vital directory for connecting like-minded people. It was the literary equivalent to such phenomena as International Sound Communication in the period of cassette culture.
- ^ "Table of Contents", Factsheet Five, no. 44, p. 1, August 1991, ISSN 0890-6823
- ^ Gunderloy, Mike; Cari Goldberg Janice (1992), "Introduction", The World of Zines, New York: Penguin Group, p. 4, ISBN 0-14-016720-X
- ^ "Julie Doucet: How a Zine Author Went Canonical". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2022-07-23. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
- ^ Lethem, Jonathan (2023-08-11). "To Factsheet Five". Medium. Retrieved 2024-04-04.