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Thumbnail for Dime NovelsThe dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term dime novel has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, referring to story papers, five- and ten-cent weeklies, "thick book" reprints, and sometimes early pulp magazines.

Wildly popular in their day, dime novels were eventually replaced by pulp magazines.

"Penny Dreadfuls" and "shilling shockers" are similar genres but produced in Britain.
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Dime Novels

All Around Weekly

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Title:All Around Weekly
Issues Available:14
Latest Issue:All Around Weekly 9 - Old Sixty | Uploaded: Oct 3, 2019
Categories:Adventure
Publication History:Issues: 72 |  Sequence: #1 - #72
Published by Frank Tousey

Beadle's Dime Library

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Title:Beadle's Dime Library
Issues Available:2
Latest Issue:Beadle's Dime Novels 108 - The Peddler Spy | Uploaded: Oct 25, 2013
Categories:Adventure
Beadle's Dime Library was published by Beadle & Adams based in New York, USA.
The publication first appeared in June 1860 and ran for over 670 issues. The covers retained a constant orange colour for the whole of the series.
The first few edition covers were illustrated with the reverse of a dime (10c) coin, thereafter illustrated with a scene from the novel.
The stories were mainly Adventure stories, Detective Stories or Westerns, with a complete story in each edition.

Beadle's Half Dime Library

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Title:Beadle's Half Dime Library
Issues Available:22
Latest Issue:Beadle's Half Dime Library 12 - Gulliver's Travels | Uploaded: Apr 2, 2020
Categories:Adventure
Publication History: Dates: -
Beadle's Half Dime Library was published by Beadle & Adams based in New York, USA.
This publication was a companion to Beadle's Dime Library which was primarily aimed at boys, which was reflected in the price of a nickel which was thought more affordable to youngsters of the time.
Its popularity was such that it ran for just over 28 years.
In the beginning, the stories were of Indians, pioneers, backwoodsmen, or the sea. Later, detective stories became the rule.

Beadle's New Dime Novels

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Title:Beadle's New Dime Novels
Issues Available:21
Latest Issue:Beadle's New Dime Novels 12 - The Texan Scout | Uploaded: May 27, 2020
Categories:Adventure | Western
Publication History:Issues: 309 |  Sequence: #1 - #309 |  Dates: -
Author: Dewey, Frederick H. Publisher: Beadle and Adams, Publishers, 98 William Street. Mainly reprints of Beadle's Dime Novels

Brave and Bold Weekly

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Title:Brave and Bold Weekly
Issues Available:7
Latest Issue:Brave and Bold 363 - A Hoodoo Machine | Uploaded: Jul 3, 2022
Categories:Adventure | Mixed Bag
Publication History: Dates: -
Brave and Bold Weekly was published by Street & Smith based in New York.
It ran from December 1902 until March 1911 for a total of approximately 429 issues.
It featured a complete story each week mostly reprinted from previous Street & Smith publications such as Golden Hours and Good News.
The stories were mainly adventure based covering many different genres.
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The Brookside Library

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Title:The Brookside Library
Issues Available:2
Latest Issue:The Brookside Library 37 | Uploaded: Oct 27, 2013
Categories:Adventure
The Brookside Library was published weekly by Frank Tousey based in New York, USA.
It ran from 1882 to 1884 for a total of 410 issues.
It was classed as a 'Dime Novel', although only costing 5 cents, and featured a complete story each week. These stories were mostly Romance based.

The Deadwood Dick Library

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Title:The Deadwood Dick Library
Issues Available:54
Latest Issue:Deadwood Dick Library v4 50 - Sierra Sam's Double | Uploaded: Feb 6, 2020
Categories:Adventure
The Deadwood Dick Library was published by M.J. Ivers & Co based in New York, USA.
It was published weekly and ran from 1899 to 1900 for a total of 64 issues.
A Dime novel series containing primarily frontier, western, detective and mystery stories re-printed from Beadle's Half-Dime Library.
Deadwood Dick is a fictional character who appeared in a series of dime novels, originally published between 1877 and 1897 by Edward Lytton Wheeler.
The name became so widely known in its time that it was used to advantage by several men who actually resided in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Five Cent Wide Awake Library

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Title:Five Cent Wide Awake Library
Issues Available:10
Latest Issue:Five Cent Wide Awake Library v2 1268 | Uploaded: Oct 25, 2013
Categories:Adventure
The Five Cent Wide Awake Library was published by Frank Tousey based in New York, USA.
Published weekly from 1878 to 1896 it ran for a total of over 1350 issues.
It featured mainly western and adventure stories.
Tousey was the first publisher to issue a dime novel featuring Jesse James, The Train Robbers; or, a Story of the James Boys, which appeared in No. 440 of the Wide Awake Library. The dime novel was written by John R. Musick under the name W. D. Stevens.
Not only first on the scene, Tousey also became a major source of output for the James tales in dime novels. He even created a series called James Boys Weekly.

Frank Reade Library

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Title:Frank Reade Library
Issues Available:104
Latest Issue:v01 15 - Frank Reade's Electric Air Canoe | Uploaded: Mar 1, 2021
Categories:Adventure | Science Fiction
Frank Reade was the protagonist of a series of dime novels published primarily for boys. The first novel, Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains, an imitation of Edward Ellis's The Steam Man of the Prairies (1868), was written by Harry Enton and serialized in the Frank Tousey juvenile magazine Boys of New York, February 28 through April 24, 1876. The four Frank Reade stories concerned adventures with the character's inventions, various robot-like mechanisms powered by steam.

A very long series of juvenile novels followed which featured the son of Frank Reade, Frank Reade Jr., as its teenaged inventor-hero. These stories were written by Luis P. Senarens (1865-1939) with the pseudonym Noname. Extremely popular during their time, they were often reprinted and new stories have been created as recently as 2011, in the pulp short story collection, Wildthyme in Purple.

Frank Reade Jr. inventions included airships of the dirigible-balloon and helicopter type, submersibles, steam-driven and electrical land vehicles, and steam-powered robots.

The Frank Reade stories are perhaps the best known of the many boys' invention fiction series published in America during the later 19th century. Frank Reade Jr. has appeared as an older man in Alan Moore's Nemo: Heart of Ice, and the Reade family as a whole has also been featured in Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett's Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention. (source: wikipedia.org)

Frank Reade Weekly Magazine

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Title:Frank Reade Weekly Magazine
Issues Available:34
Latest Issue:v1 5 - Frank Reade, Jr's Sea Serpent | Uploaded: Oct 4, 2022
Categories:Science Fiction | Adventure
Publication History:Issues: 96 |  Sequence: #1 - #96 |  Dates: -
Frank Reade, the 19th century's most popular science fiction hero helped lay the groundwork for modern science fiction. The stories began with "Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains, or, The Terror of the West." Written by Harold Cohen under the pen name Harry Enton, as a knockoff of an earlier steam man story, it was serialized in Boys of New York magazine in 1876. That version of Frank Reade, who invented robots powered by steam, appeared in four serial stories.

He then became Frank Reade Sr. ("suddenly middle-aged," as Jess Nevins put it) and was supplanted by his brash young son, Frank Jr. The teenage inventor-hero Frank Reade Jr. was wildly popular, starring in at least 179 violent "blood and thunder" adventures aimed at boys. After improving on his dad's steam-driven inventions, Frank Jr. turned to electricity as the motive power of the future! He built electric-powered robots, submarines, ATVs, and helicopter airships, all heavily armed and armored. He had adventures around the world, even accidentally venturing into outer space.

There's little consistent continuity between stories: Sometimes Frank Jr. has a wife, more often he doesn't; the location of Readestown varies; and he rarely deploys the same vehicle more than once. In only one story does Frank Jr. have a son, Frank Reade III, and a daughter, Kate. More consistent in the dime novels are Frank Jr.'s assistants, Pomp and Barney, who are played for laughs as broad ethnic stereotypes.

The dime novel stories, published under the pseudonym Noname (but mostly written by Luis Senarens), were reprinted for decades in Frank Reade Library, Frank Reade Weekly, and other periodicals. They were read by millions of people and made an indelible impact on the earliest generations of science fiction readers, writers, and editors.

Published by Frank Tousey. History

1876-1894: Frank Reade stories ran in Boys of New York. They were also reprinted in The Five Cent Wide Awake Library starting in 1883.

1892-1898: Frank Reade Jr. got his own series, Frank Reade Library, a combination of reprints and new stories that ran for 192 issues. 1894-1906: Stories were reprinted yet again in Frank Reade Weekly Magazine (1902-1904) and the British series Aldine's Romance of Travel, Invention and Adventure Library (1894-1906), both with snazzy new color covers.

1928: At the dawn of science fiction's Golden Age, a group of fans published their own version of Frank Reade, with new stories, that ran 86 issues. Early fanfic!

1979-86: A 10-volume set reprinting Frank Reade Library was released by Garland Publishing.
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The Liberty Boys Of 76

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Title:The Liberty Boys Of 76
Issues Available:4
Latest Issue:The Liberty Boys of 76 - 120 The Liberty Boys Neatest Trick! | Uploaded: Sep 25, 2019
Categories:Adventure | War/Armed Forces
Publication History:Issues: 999 |  Sequence: #1 - #999
Liberty Boys of '76 was published by Frank Tousey based in New York, USA.
Published weekly from January 1901 to May 1925 it ran for a total of 1273 issues.
It features stories based on the American Revolution.
Liberty Boys were based on a real life group operating during the American Revolutionary War. The group consisted of 100 members who, suffering casualties, were always able to fill up their ranks with new recruits, though the latter had to pass a rigid test. Dick Slater was captain of the band and knew that the effectiveness of such a small force lay in its mobility and quick striking power.

Log Cabin Library

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Title:Log Cabin Library
Issues Available:2
Latest Issue:Log Cabin Library 362 | Uploaded: Oct 27, 2013
Categories:Western | Adventure
Log Cabin Library is a late 19th century publication by Street & Smith based in New York. It ran weekly from 1889 until 1896 for a total of approximately 404 issues. It featured stories with such characters as Buffalo Bill and the James Gang.

Old Broadbrim

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Title:Old Broadbrim
Issues Available:2
Latest Issue:Old Broadbrim Weekly 32 | Uploaded: Oct 25, 2013
Categories:Crime | Detective
Published weekly by Street & Smith Publications based in New York.

It ran for 51 issues from October 4th 1902 - September 19th 1903

Josiah Broadbrim is a Quaker Detective. His Quaker characteristics include pacifism, wearing grey clothing and a broad-brimmed hat (his name therefore has a second meaning as Quakers were often called 'broadbrim' with reference to their headgear).

The old detective is a master of disguise and his stories reportedly contain the true solutions of many of the great mysteries of crime that have never before been explained.

Old Cap. Collier Library

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Title:Old Cap. Collier Library
Issues Available:6
Latest Issue:Old Cap. Collier Library 750 | Uploaded: Oct 27, 2013
Categories:Crime | Detective
Published initially weekly and later as a semi monthly by Munro's Publishing House based in New York.

First issue published in 1883 - Last issue published in 1899

Features detective stories with a changing roster of main characters who solve the crimes.

The title character Cap Collier (his first name is never revealed) was featured in 34 of the stories. He fits the traditional model of the dime novel detective. No-one seems to know his origins and he assists the police without any official standing.

The War Library

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Title:The War Library
Issues Available:4
Latest Issue:The War Library v7 207 | Uploaded: Oct 25, 2013
Categories:War/Armed Forces
The War Library was a series of weekly dime novels published by Novelist Publishing Co. based in New York, USA.
It ran from 1882 to 1890 (dates are approximate) for a total of approximately 414 issues.
A series of novels containing primarily stories of the American Civil War, subtitled 'Original Stories of Adventure in the War for the Union'.
Published just 17 years after the end of the 'American Civil War' the stories must have touched many of its readers.
# Name Cover
Date		 Pages Contributor Date
Added		 Size
(mb)		 Views Down
loads		 Rated
408 The New York Detective Library 0408 36 Pulpshmoo Oct 27, 2013 88.00 4348 59
71 Young Broadbrim Weekly 071 37 Pulpshmoo Oct 27, 2013 154.00 3397 52
  
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