Eight dime novels

by E.F. Bleiler (Editor, Introduction), Francis Worcester Doughty (Contributor), Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey (Contributor)

Doughty, Francis W. - The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler; or, Working for the Custom House (1900)

Frank James on the Trail (1882)

Dey, Frederick van Rensselaer - Scylla, The Sea Robber; or, Nick Carter and the Queen of Sirens (1905)

Wheeler, Edward J. - Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road; or, THe Black Rider of the Black Hills (1877)

Ingraham, Col. Prentiss - Adventures of Buffalo Bill, from Boyhood to Manhood (1881)

Ellis, Edward S. - The Huge Hunter; or, The Steam Man of the Prairies (1882)

Patten, William Gilbert - Frank Merriwell's Nobility; or, The Tragedy of the Ocean Tramp (1899)

Alger, Horatio - Adrift in New York; or, Dodger and Florence Braving the World (1903)

190 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1974

About the author

Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) (see also Everett F. Bleiler) was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called "the foundation of modern SF bibliography". Among his other scholarly works are two Hugo Award–nominated volumes concerning early science fiction—Science-Fiction: The Early Years and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years—and the massive Guide to Supernatural Fiction.

Bleiler worked at Dover Publications from 1955, becoming executive vice-president of the company from 1967 until he left the company in 1977; he then worked for Charles Scribner's Sons until 1987. He edited a number of ghost story collections for Dover, containing what the genre historian Mike Ashley has described as "detailed and exemplary introductions".

Bleiler received the Pilgrim Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship in 1984, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1988, the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1994, and the International Horror Guild Living Legend award in 2004.

Bleiler wrote two works of fiction: the fantasy novel Firegang: A Mythic Fantasy (2006), set in the tree of Yggdrasil as well as moving across time and space, and Magistrate Mai and the Invisible Murderer (2006), a detective story set in ancient China, similar to the work of Robert Van Gulik.

Bleiler's son, Richard, is also a science fiction historian and assisted his father on several of his works.

Reviews

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a real cram-course on the topic of The Dime Novel, giving the reader first a thorough introduction of the medium and then no less than 8 complete entries, with original multi-column formatting and the header illustration. The “Beadle's Half-Dime” entries are in three columns and with very fine print, requiring a keen eye, a magnifier, or (in my case) a visit to a Dime Novel website to get them for the old e-reader.

I can't say a word against the book itself since it does it's job at displaying the Dime Novel, but some of the entries really drudge-up the dark side of the medium. There's fun stuff like Old and Young Kind Brady and Nick Carter, but then you get to Frank Merriwell. Frank Merriwell is a college student who has adventures with his college buddies, all of whom seem to be prudish teetotalers who delight in lecturing total strangers on the slightest pretext. The adventure featured here (there are many many others), “Frank Merriwell's Nobility” finds him on a tramp steamer across the Atlantic where he contends with gamblers, an old nemesis, and moral outage. The adventure itself is serviceable enough, but there is no excuse (1899 or no 1899) for a “hero” who wears his “nobility” on his sleeve like this.

For lovers of pulp and of history, this book is a candy-store. Four of the 8 stories are of the “wild west” variety, including “The Steam Man of the Prairies” which involves a boy inventor's adventures surrounding a robot-shaped locomotive. “Deadwood Dick” is the best of this lot since it is very plot-intensive and has the melodrama you didn't know you were looking for, followed by “Frank James on the Trail” since both deal with gallant outlaws instead of the wholesale slaughter of “redskins” (the “Buffalo Bill” biographical bit might as well have a body-counter).

The Horatio Alger story “Adrift in New York” was my first exposure to this author and I don't regret it. The plot surrounds the will of an ailing old rich man who has a son who was stolen 14 years ago. There's poverty, plotting, drugged people kidnapped onto ships, and loads and loads of good-hearted people waiting to reward the hero for his basic good nature. In fact, in Alger's universe, even the villains aren't that bad since there's nothing in the way of murder here and almost no trace of violence.

In some ways reading stuff like this is an exploration of basically juvenile themes, all charming and somewhat mindless. A lot of the stuff that went into these was lately improved-on by early 20th century adventure authors, like Burroughs. I don't know if that implies that the country and the readers “grew up” or “lost their innocence” after the 19th century, but at some point popular fiction made violence and death more vivid and the imagination lost some of its sparkle.

Anyhow, epic reading time here. If you haven't, at least check out the Old Kind Brady and Deadwood Dick, both are delightful.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only read the introduction and the first story ("The Bradys & the Girl Smuggler"), which was a fun little read. It was a library book and just too big to carry around all day for my commute, so I didn't read much of it.

On the other hand, it pointed me toward a few things to search for online that I can download as ebooks, particularly some of the Buffalo Bill stories.

[Boots LookingLand · Rating 3 out of 5]

here's a fun compilation of a variety of "dime novels" (really, these are nickel papers and weeklies for the most part). it's a good survey of the genre, including the most popular subject: the buffalo bill/jesse james western, the nick carter/detective story, frank reade/adventure story, and the merriwell/sports adventure. the range of these (from the late 1800s through the 1920s) proffers some very radical styles and shows a real shift in popular fiction from adult to juvenile audiences.

are these the best examples of this lost popular art? in an industry that published so so so much it's impossible to tell ~ at best it's representative. i enjoyed a handful of the stories while others were either not to my tastes (the detective stuff), or stylistically almost impenetrable.

fun stuff overall and nice to see something like this was ever printed. wish there was more!