A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1881 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

Home › Exhibition › Pulp Fiction › Read

A complete issue · 16 pages · 1881

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214

1881 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 214 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This weekly story periodical from August 30, 1881 (volume IX, number 214) features "Wolfgang the Robber of the Rhine; Or, The Young Knight of the Crossicorde" by Captain Frederick Whittaker, a prolific author of adventure fiction. The serial opens in the Black Forest in 1274 with a vivid boar hunt: a young nobleman pursuing game encounters a wounded boar that fights four massive hounds in a stream. The huntsman kills the boar with a spear thrust from horseback. Riding toward a castle overlooking the Rhine, the youth—who gives his name as Adelbert—meets the beautiful dark-haired Lady Bertha von Falkenstein at a window. She warns him the castle belongs to Sir Wolfgang of Ernstein, a notorious robber-knight holding her prisoner as ward to her lands. Before Adelbert can flee, Wolfgang returns with armed retainers. Adelbert vows to rescue Bertha within a lunar month, then turns to face the approaching warriors.

Browse this issue page by page

Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.