Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas are credited with editing and publishing the first major Science Fiction anthology, a volume that said to the world: Science Fiction is worthy of your attention. That book was called Adventures in Time and Space and it appeared in 1946.
Lester Del Rey said in Worlds of Science Fiction (1979):
The second anthology of 1946, [the first was Groff Conklin’s The Best of Science Fiction] however, was the really important one. This was Adventures in Time and Space, edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas and published by Random House. This ran to 997 pages, all tightly packed with type, and sol for the bargain-basement price of $2.95. As nearly as I can estimate, there were almost half a million words int he 35 stories in the volume.
Furthermore, they were very good words. McComas was an old devotee of science fiction who had sold a few stories under the name of Webb Marlowe. Healy was also a reader; he was employed by Random House and he knew the market possibilities of the book. Together, they produced an anthology that would be considered the definitive volume for a quarter of a century–the best possible introduction to science fiction as it had evolved by this time. Most of the major Astounding writers were represented with some of their best fiction. (I was told by Campbell that Healy and McComas came to get permissions before Conklin did, even though their book was released somewhat later; thus they had first choice of all the stories that had been written for the magazines–a chance that could never happen again!)
This is all true but I advise caution here because Del Rey was one John W. Campbell’s Golden Age writers and his objectivity is suspect at times. Still, I think we can agree a massive hard cover of SF in 1946, a time of Pulps and comic books, and not much else, is a pretty special thing. The editors are too heavy on the Campbell mags for my taste but what can you do? (No Manly Wade Wellman, Edmond Hamilton, Jack Williamson, Clifford D. Simak, etc. and far too many multiple appearances by certain authors.) Asimov’s Before the Golden Age (1974) seems a more varied book.
“Requiem” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1940)
“Forgetfulness” by Don A. Stuart (John W. Campbell) (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1937)
“Nerves” by Lester Del Rey (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1942)
“The Sands of Time’ by P. Schuyler Miller (Astounding Stories, April 1937)
“The Proud Robot” by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore) (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1943)
“Black Destroyer” by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
“Symbiotica” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1943)
“Seeds of the Dusk” by Raymond Z. Gallun (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1938)
“Heavy Planet” by Lee Gregor (Milton A. Rothman) (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1938)
“Time Locker” by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore) (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1943)
“The Link” by Cleve Cartmill (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1942)
“The Mechanical Mice” by Maurice G. Hugi (Maurice G. Hugi and Eric Frank Russell) (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1941)
“V-2 – Rocket Cargo Ship” by Willy Ley (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945)
“Adam and No Eve” by Alfred Bester (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1941)
“Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1941)
“A Matter of Size” by Harry Bates (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1934)
“As Never Was” by P. Schuyler Miller (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1944)
“Q. U. R.” by Anthony Boucher (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1943)
“Who Goes There?” by Don A. Stuart (John W. Campbell) (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1938)
“The Roads Must Roll” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1940)
“Asylum” by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1942)
“Quietus” by Ross Rocklynne (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1940)
“The Twonky” by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1942)
“Time Travel Happens” by A. M. Phillips (Unknown, December 1939)
“Robots Return” by Robert Moore Williams (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1938)
“The Blue Giraffe” by L. Sprague de Camp (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
“Flight Into Darkness” by Webb Marlowe (J. Francis McComas) (Astounding Science Fiction, February 1943)
“The Weapon Shop” by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1942)
“Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1940)
“Within the Pyramid” by R. Dewitt Miller (Astounding Stories, March 1937)
“He Who Shrank” by Henry Hasse (Amazing Stories, August 1936)
“By His Bootstraps” by Anson MacDonald (Robert A. Heinlein) (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941)
“The Star Mouse” by Fredric Brown (Planet Stories, Spring 1942)
“Correspondence Course” by Raymond F. Jones (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1945)
“Brain” by S. Fowler Wright (The New Gods Lead, 1932)
