The ATom Anthology

The ATom Anthology was a special one shot publication of Arthur Thomson's art work.

The ATom Anthology was produced by Ella Parker and published in May 1961.

It was a 108 page, mimeographed fanzine. Many of the drawings were specially redrawn for the publication by Thomson. Due to the available technology for printing reproduction at that time, Thomson had to hand cut new stencils.

The work was worth it, since The ATom Anthology was voted Best British Fanzine for the year 1961 by the Skyrack Readers Fan Poll.

The ATom Anthology featured an introduction by Walt Willis, Arthur Thomson's columns from Ploy, his covers for Hyphen, excerpts from Fan BEMS, 62 cartoons, and 63 illustrations, as well as articles and other artwork.

Bruce Burn, in Prolapse #9, from November 2007, writes, "Ella had a special friendship with Arthur Thomson, 'ATom', the great fan-artist. They were both Glaswegians, and were staunch allies to each other."

"A once-famous story of the anthology concerned a stencil that Arthur Thomson had inscribed so heavily that we were able to print only a couple of dozen copies before the stencil fell apart on the silk screen. Ella rewarded her team of helpers by ensuring they received copies with the extra 'monster' picture inside."