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.”
Type J
Type L
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.