7 h 58 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 58 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can fragile stories of scouts, outlaws and detectives reveal about the readers who wore them out?
The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels is a guide to the New York Public Library's holdings of popular fiction. It maps stories that ordinary Americans read before cheap magazines, movies and radio. Frontier scouts, outlaws, detectives and sailors fill its pages, opening a window onto the tastes of a mass audience.
Across the collection, Western tales stand beside stories of detectives, sailors and outlaws. Its stories turn figures such as Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill into heroes whose adventures reach far beyond their lives. This catalogue also points to a fragile legacy: stories read until they fall apart, attacked by critics and often opposed by parents.
What you’ll discover
- Frontier lives become legends Explore how Western stories turn Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill into larger-than-life heroes.
- More than cowboy tales Look beyond the frontier to stories of detectives, sailors and outlaws.
- A window onto readers Discover what ordinary Americans read before cheap magazines, movies and radio.
- Stories under suspicion Meet a popular literature that critics call dangerous and parents try to ban.
- Fragile traces of reading See why libraries preserve worn stories that readers rarely expect to keep.
Who will love it
For readers who love American frontier lore, the history of printing and publishing, or the thrill of collecting. If you wonder how popular fiction began, these pages open a vanished shelf of adventure.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Cheap books shaped a nation's imagination
- Beadle knew the frontier firsthand
- One coin opened a publishing business
- Experience gave the adventures their authority
- Yellow backs could lead toward history
- Changing covers left clues to identity
- Frontier heroes became a regular habit
- Beadle sold more than frontier adventures
- Popular books could disappear through abundance
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels
by New York Public Library · 1922
Erastus Beadle sells frontier adventure for a dime, and soldiers, boys and even Lincoln devour his little books.
Easy read2–5 hours to read2 languages
Learn a language with easy classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
What would a boy in 1862 do with ten cents? He might buy a small yellow book about a captive on the New York frontier and read it until the pages fell apart.
The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 55 min3 h 5 min fast, 4 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 56,200 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1922by New York Public Library
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The exhibition gathers a vanished American literature
Dr. Frank P. O'Brien of New York gave his collection to the library. About fourteen hundred of his small books and magazines go on display, while 171 more items stay in storage for lack of space. The library calls the whole a pioneering literature that has now disappeared.
The Beadle display holds thirty-one series. Sizes run from tiny pocket volumes to folio sheets as big as a newspaper. More than half were first issued in covers of brown, blue, orange, tan, green, yellow, red and buff, and they are shown that way.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 10 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
New York Public Library. The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beadle-collection-of-dime-novels.
New York Public Library. (2026). The Beadle collection of dime novels. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beadle-collection-of-dime-novels (Original work published 1922)
New York Public Library. The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beadle-collection-of-dime-novels.
@book{newyorkpubliclibrary2026beadle,
author = {New York Public Library},
title = {The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beadle-collection-of-dime-novels},
note = {First published 1922}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels about?
It describes an exhibition of about fourteen hundred Beadle dime books and magazines, tells the story of publisher Erastus Beadle and editor Orville Victor, walks through thirty-one series, and ends with a listing of titles by series and author.
Who was Erastus Beadle?
Beadle was a printer born in Pierstown, New York, in 1821. He built a publishing house in New York City on the idea of cheap dime books, starting with songbooks and then the first Dime Novels in 1860.
What is a dime novel and what were the yellow backs?
A dime novel was a small, cheap paper book of adventure sold for ten cents. Beadle's first series, the yellow backs, began in 1860 and featured Seth Jones, which sold over 450,000 volumes before 1865.
The author
New York Public Library
American public library
The New York Public Library is a library system in New York City, founded in 1895. It operates research libraries and neighborhood branches in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Its main research building on Fifth Avenue opened in 1911. It holds collections of books, manuscripts, and other materials.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
