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Dime Novels: Beadle Adams
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Dime novels are a 19-century American publishing phenomenon: short potboiler fiction, in lurid covers, that typically sold for ten cents. They are the antecedents of both modern paperbacks and comic books. The Ransom Center has, as a separate collection, over 850 of these early titles put out by Beadle & Adams, who originated the concept in 1860; the collection was formed by Frank P. O'Brien. Two copies of the scarce first dime novel, Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter by Mrs. Ann Stephens, begin the Center's holdings, which continue to the end of the century. Evocative ancillary items from this collection include a number of photographs of Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody), who wrote for the series; the mounted head of a buffalo shot by Cody; and the large Beadle & Adams, Publishers sign, which showed the way to their premises.
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The booklet-type novels and the Half-Dime Library generally contained about 35,000 to 40,000 words, while the Dime-Library had from 70,000 to 80,000. The octavo broadleaves, such as the Boy's Library and the Pocket Library, contained about the same amount of reading matter as the 16-page Half-Dime Library, but the type was larger and there were 32 pages. When a novel originally issued in one series was to be reprinted in another and was too long, it was "blue pencilled," until it came within the allotted space. Usually the editing of the Beadle novels was fairly carefully done, although occasionally one senses that something is missing. Munro, in his Ten Cent Novels, was not so careful, and the hiatuses occasionally are great enough to cause the reader considerable headache; the object of his blue pencil seems to have been to cut out words regardless of continuity.
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Dime novels first appeared on the American literary scene in 1860 with the publication of Beadles Dime Novels No. 1, "Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter," by Ann S. Stephens (1813-1886). Numerous dime and half-dime publications soon flooded the market. Irwin Beadle was the first publisher to issue cheap paper covered novels in continuous series. The term dime novels had little reference to the price at which they booklets were sold, but it was applied especially to any "sensational detective" or "blood-and-thunder" novel in pamphlet form.
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Dime novels transformed the publishing industry by introducing mass distribution, made possible by the cheap production of wood pulp paper, the use of the steam-powered cylinder press, improvements in transportation and imaginative marketing. One of the most prolific publishers, Beadle, published over 7,000 novels between 1860 and 1897. During the Civil War, Beadle sent its novels to the front in bushels, alongside food rations, introducing thousands of young men to the pleasure of reading them.
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While his brother worked in magazines, Irwin began the dime booklet business that would make the Beadle name famous, although Erastus would eventually receive most of the profits and the credit for its creation. In 1859, he published the Dime Song Book, a paper-bound collection of popular ballads that had previously been issued singly. It sold well, and encouraged by its success, Irwin began publishing a series of dime booklets on such varied subjects as cooking, etiquette, speeches, and baseball. At the end of this year, Irwin and Adams formed the publishing firm Irwin P. Beadle and Co.
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The primary attraction here is the Albert Johannson Dime Novel Collection of 50,000 volumes! It is a wonderful collection of dime novels and Johannson's papers. In addition to their excellent holdings, NUI offers the Horatio Alger Fellowship for the Study of Popular Culture to scholars wishing to make use of the collection. though Johannson did not focus on women's works in particular, he did aim to collect every item every published by the firm of Beadle and Adams. Thus, his collection is so extensive many women's titles, such as The Waverly Library, are well represented.
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