The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels / Given to the New York Public Library By Dr. Frank P. O'Brien

by New York Public Library

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.

Of similar size and make-up are the series of “Dime Dialogues” and “Dime Speakers,” which are also shown. The Dialogue series contained at least forty-one issues, and the speaker series is known to have embraced twenty-five books. Numerous copies of each are shown, the Speaker No. 1 being dated 1861.

Erastus Beadle was himself a great lover of out-door sports and out-door life (due, no doubt, to his immediate pioneer ancestry), and in addition to the baseball guides he published many other similar hand-books. The Library exhibition contains copies of the Beadle “Book of Cricket,” of “Football,” of “Croquet,” of “Skating,” of “Curling,” of “Pedestrianism,” and of “Riding and Driving.” All these appeared in the ’60’s.

With the outbreak of the Civil War the publisher began the issuance of little volumes designed to inform the Northern public regarding its military leaders, and this phase of Beadle activity continued until 1865. Among books of this sort shown in the exhibition are biographies of the principal Union Generals, the “Report of General Grant,” and the “Story of the Grand March” made by Sherman. All were published at ten cents, and each contains about 100 pages of text.

Most important of all the Beadle series, from the historical standpoint, is that known as Type C and entitled “Lives of Great Americans.” It appeared monthly, in the 70’s, for about a year, and contained thirteen different titles. All these are rare, yet the Library file, as shown, contains no less than eleven of them and embraces the lives of Washington, Paul Jones, Anthony Wayne, Ethan Allen, Lafayette, Israel Putnam, Crockett, Tecumseh, Lincoln, Pontiac and Grant. Those lacking are the lives of Boone and Kit Carson. This series is attractively bound in colored illustrated covers, much of the coloring having been done by brush. There was also issued a Life of General McClellan, and a memorial edition of the Life of Grant, issued after his death. Both of these are shown.

The other manifestation of Beadle’s early activities after his removal to New York was his issuance of popular song books. One of the first of these was the “Dime School Melodist” of 1859. The Library copy (a later edition) is dated 1860.