MONROE, Marilyn. SCOPE. America’s New Big Picture Magazine. Vol. 1, No. 1. (Signed by Marilyn Monroe)

November 1952. New York: Vue Magazine, Inc., 1952. First issue. Quarto magazine format. Original pictorial wrappers. Signed by Marilyn Monroe in blue ink across the front cover portrait. Profusely illustrated throughout with photographic reproductions and contemporary advertisements. Includes the articles “Why is Marilyn Monroe Queen of Sex Appeal?” and “Loves of Joe DiMaggio,” together with numerous features on American popular culture, politics and entertainment of the early 1950s.

An evocative survival from the golden age of American picture magazines, issued at the height of Marilyn Monroe’s meteoric rise to international fame. The striking full-colour cover image of Monroe, already establishing the iconography that would define her career, is greatly enhanced by the presence of her contemporary signature.

The front cover has been professionally repaired along the spine fold and upper edge, with associated creasing and wear visible; light rubbing, handling marks and occasional short tears to margins; internally generally clean and complete. A good to very good copy overall of an inherently fragile periodical, uncommon signed.

Scope magazine was launched in 1952 as a competitor to the enormously successful picture magazines of post-war America, blending celebrity culture, politics and sensational journalism. Marilyn Monroe appeared on comparatively few magazine covers during the earliest phase of her career before her global breakthrough in 1953–54, making signed examples from this period especially desirable. Authentic signed Monroe magazines and periodicals have become increasingly sought-after in the Americana, Hollywood and autograph markets, particularly when the signature is placed prominently on the cover image. The present example is additionally notable as the inaugural issue of the magazine.

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