Joseph Shaw (editor)

Known forEditor of Black Mask magazine, 1926–36

Joseph T. "Cap" Shaw (May 8, 1874 – August 2, 1952) was the editor of Black Mask magazine from 1926 to 1936.

Before becoming the editor of Black Mask, Shaw had worked as a newspaper reporter and as a soldier in World War I, attaining the rank of captain (Shaw's friends gave him the nickname "Cap").^[1] Shaw was also a professional fencer, and even won an Olympic medal for fencing.^{[1] [2]} Under his editorship, Black Mask published many works of crime fiction now recognised as classics of the genre, by authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner.^[2][3][4] Chandler greatly admired Shaw's ability to encourage Black Mask writers, claiming in a letter, "We wrote better for him than we could have written for anybody else."^[1]

Despite the critical and commercial success of Black Mask, Shaw was eventually fired from the magazine, succeeded by Fanny Ellsworth. Shaw then worked as a literary agent, though without notable success.^[5]

Shaw was a writer himself, producing short stories, novels, and articles.

• Derelict (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930)
• Blood on the Curb (Steeger Books, 2020)
• It Happened at the Lake (Steeger Books, 2022)

• "Alkali Ethics," The Scrap Book, May 1911 [first known publication]
• "Close Shootin’," Pioneer Tales, July 1928

• "Do You Want to Become a Writer? or Do You Want to Make Money?," Writer's Digest, May 1934.
• "Dialogue," Writer's Digest, June 1939.

• The Hard Boiled Omnibus: Early Stories from Black Mask (includes introduction) (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946)

• Bodin, Ed. "An Interview With Joseph T. Shaw," The Author and Composer, August 1932.
• Lenniger, August. "Black Mask" (interview), Writer's Digest, October 1929.
• Safire, William. "The Way We Live Now: 4-30-00: On Language; Dirigiste", New York Times, April 30, 2000.
• Shaw, Milton. Joseph T. Shaw: The Man Behind Black Mask. Black Mask, 2019. Biography, by his son.