Dime Novels

Another important subset of popular fiction at AAS is that containing the dime novels. These formulaic tales of adventure were issued in numbered series with titles such as Beadle's Sixpenny Tales, Boys' Books of Romance and Adventure, and The Sunnyside Library. They enjoyed wide readership from 1860 until well into the twentieth century. The Society's run of the Beadle series up to about 1875 is all but complete, and AAS holds strong representations of other, less popular imitations of that publisher's offerings. The standard guide to this colorful genre is Albert Johannsen's House of Beadle and Adams and its Dime and Nickel Novels (Norman, Okla., 1950). This three-volume work is annotated with AAS holdings, and the Society maintains checklists of the publications of other dime novel publishers.

The online exhibition Women and the World of Dime Novels explores the female characters and stories created in this genre.