Before the Golden Age of magazines drew to a close half a century ago, a young PR man at General Electric sold his first short story to one of the doomed publications. By the time he'd sold his third, he decide d to quit GE and join the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Faulkn er, and try to make a living at $1500. With four major magazines runni ng five stories each week and smaller ones scouting as well, it was a seller's market, and Vonnegut was published regularly by The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Argosy and others. For this unusual collectio n, Vonnegut has selected twenty-four of his favourite stories never pu blished before in book form and has written a new preface for the occa sion. Vonnegut scholar Peter Reed, who unearthed the old publications, contributes an introduction. The stories bring us to the beginning of a literary voice that is sure to last forever. “Bagombo Snuff Box”, the missing pieces of the master's oeuvre, is a ready made classic for Vonnegut fans new and old.