The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels. New York Public Library
Library.” Somewhat more than one thousand titles appeared in this series, and the Library’s collection, therefore, contains nearly one-third of the titles published in this form. As their collective name indicates they were sold for five cents, and were the most ephemeral of all the Beadle imprints. Millions of them came from the press, but, owing to their cheapness, form, and popularity, virtually none were saved.
These tales are sixteen-page pamphlets of royal octavo size, with the front page almost always filled by a strongly-drawn and dramatic illustration portraying some vital incident of the narrative. Although the series, as a whole, is mainly devoted to far western life and conditions, it also contains numerous stories dealing with New York City. Among these the exhibition shows copies of “Broadway Billy’s Boodle” (No. 514); “Broadway Billy in Clover” (No. 678); and “Bicycle Bob’s Hot Scorch, a Story of the Schoharie County Hayseed in New York” (No. 989); all by Cowdrick; “Bowery Ben in Chinatown” (No. 892), by Harold Payne; and “Buck Bumblebee, the Harlem Hummer” (No. 623); and “The Big Four of the Bowery” (No. 837), both by Joseph Pierce.
The far western tales and biographies in this series are particularly interesting. Among the biographical issues are “Buffalo Billy, the Boy Bull-whacker” (No. 191), by Captain Taylor; “Buffalo Bill’s Bet” (No. 194), by Taylor; “Bison Bill” (No. 216), by Ingraham; “California Joe’s First Trail” (No. 376), by Col. Monstery; “California Joe’s War Trail” (No. 395), by Captain Whittaker; Ingraham’s narrative of Joe Bruce, the Texas Ranger, under the title of “Arizona Joe” (No. 495); and the same author’s story of William L. Taylor of Texas, under the title of “Buck Taylor, King of the Cowboys” (No. 497). The illustrations borne by all the titles of this series will be found to possess unusual interest, but some of the drawings have an especial fascination. Notable in such regard are “Giant George” (No. 246); “Sierra Sam’s Pard” (No. 253); “The Scalp King” (No. 288); and “Ker-Whoop, Ker-Whoo” (No. 318).
The largest group of all, in the Library exhibit, is that representing the Type M publications of Beadle. These were collectively known as the Dime Library, of which each issue was an imperial octavo of thirty-two pages, with an illustration on the front cover. Nearly one thousand titles were issued in this series, of which the Library possesses and shows 356, or considerably more than one-third of all that were published. Probably a majority of the Dime Library tales portray the conditions and famous characters of the Far West, and among the pioneer phases of western life with which its titles deal are overland emigration, fur trapping, lumber-camp life, gold hunting, the Texas War, the exploits of the Texas Rangers, the stage coach era, cattle rustling, ranch life, vigilante rule, the depredations of road-agents, Indian fighting, and conditions in all the new states and territories.
Many of these Dime Library pamphlets are also biographical. The narratives of this type dealing with celebrated western characters embrace “Kit Carson, Jr., the Crack Shot of the West” (No. 3), by Major Hall; “Joaquin, the Saddle King” (No. 154), by Badger; “Wild Bill” (No. 154), by Ingraham; “Big Foot Wallace” (No. 204), by Major Hall; and “The Lasso King’s League” (No. 653), and “The Cowboy Clan” (No. 658), by Ingraham. The last two named deal with Buck Taylor of Texas. Several of this series were written by Cody, and still others relate to him. Among these are “Buffalo Bill’s Secret Trail” (No. 682), by Major Burr; and “Buffalo Bill’s Body Guard” (No. 727), by Ingraham.
Included also in this department of the collection are a number of Aiken’s stories of New York City life. Some of these titles are “The Wolves of New York” (No. 161); “The Phantom Hand, or the Heiress of Fifth Avenue” (No. 72); and “The Wall Street Blood, or, Tick, Tick, the Telegraph Girl.”
Following the imposing array just described there come, in the exhibition, representatives of seven exceedingly rare groups of Beadle publications. Of “Beadle’s Dime Fiction Library,” published in 1864 and 1865, only five examples are present. The “Library of Choice Fiction,” also published in 1864, is represented only by “The Maiden Martyr,” which deals with the New England witchcraft horror. “Beadle’s 15 cent Novels” series, which appeared in 1861, has a New York history specimen in the shape of “The Maid of Esopus, or, The Trials and Triumphs of the Revolution.” The “American Novels” series contains nine titles. It appeared from 1865 to 1867, and the little books bear the imprint of Irwin P. Beadle, who was a brother of Erastus. No. 7 of this type is “Fort Stanwix; a Tale of the Mohawk in 1777,” by Hamilton Myers. Next in succession are “Frank Starr’s American Novels,” of which there are but four, published from 1870 to 1872, and they, in turn, are followed by four specimens of the “Frank Starr’s Fifteen Cent Illustrated Novels,” which appeared in 1870 and 1871.
Last of all, in this group of rarities, are six copies of the “Boys’ Books of Romance and Adventure.” These, which are perhaps the most uncommon and important of the Beadle issues, are attractive octavos, on colored covers. No. 1 of the series (which the Library shows), is Robinson Crusoe, but all the others deal with famous personages and events in American history. Some of the books contain several such narratives, among them being stories of Marion and his men, of Daniel Morgan, of Tecumseh, Moody, Simon Girty, and other historic characters of pioneer times. This series of publications was edited by Edward S. Ellis, and, like several other groups with which it is associated in the exhibition, has hitherto escaped the knowledge of bibliographers.
Once more there is a striking change in the bewildering display arranged in the exhibition. The small and colorful exhibits just described are succeeded by a large illustrated series printed in black and entitled “New and Old Friends.” These well-made royal octavo pamphlets of thirty-two pages appeared in 1873, and of the fifteen known titles the Library possesses and shows no less than fourteen, only No. 2 of the file being absent. All relate to American pioneer life. This series was enlarged to folio size after the fifteenth issue, and two examples in the larger form are in the exhibit. One of them is “Oonomoo, the Huron,” by Ellis. Of this tale Senator Zachariah Chandler once said: “The man who does not enjoy ‘Oonomoo the Huron’ has no right to live.”
“The New York Library,” issued under the Frank Starr imprint for a short time in 1877 is next represented by No. 19, which is “Red Cedar, the Prairie Outlaw,” and it is followed by nine copies of “Beadle’s Popular Library,” an imperial octavo series devoted to western and detective exploits. These bring to an end the historical and semi-historical tales published under various imprints by the house of Beadle.
There still remain, however, two other important phases of its activity which demand attention, and which, in point of chronology, even ante-dated the different types of books and pamphlets already described. When Erastus Beadle removed from Buffalo to New York, in 1858, his first ventures were a number of little hand-books on various subjects, and song books. These appeared from 1858 to 1860, and numerous specimens of them are contained in the Library’s exhibit. These were 12mo or 16mo in size, and were presented in attractive colored covers, sometimes with illustrations. Most important and historically valuable of these publications were the Beadle Baseball Guides, that began to appear in 1859 or 1860 and were continued for about twenty years. They were the first continuous series of baseball guides in the world, and contain a huge mass of information relating to the national game that is nowhere else to be found. In that respect they are invaluable, and no history of baseball can be written without constant recourse to them.
Other volumes of like character in the exhibition are the “Joke Books”; the “Year Book and Almanac”; the “Ladies Letter Writer”; the “Housewife’s Manual”; the “Book of Verse”; the “Debater”; the “Elocutionist,” and the three issues of the “Book of Fun.” The “Book of Fun No. 3” is notable because of the fact that it is the first edition, in book form, of Mark Twain’s story of the Jumping Frog, which is contained on pages 29 to 32. This volume appeared in 1866, preceding by a year the appearance of the pamphlet commonly accepted as the first edition of the tale.
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