A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1887 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 16 pages · 1887

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542

1887 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 542 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue features the opening chapters of "Cimarron Jack's Last Hunt," a Western romance by Frederick Dewey, set on the Colorado River plateau in July 1849. The narrative centers on Kit Duncan, a quarrelsome camp cook, and introduces a supernatural mystery. When Duncan's mustang bolts from camp, he witnesses a phantom horseman—a tall, dark-skinned rider on a chestnut horse, advancing silently with a vacant, frozen stare. Despite Duncan's warnings and a rifle shot that audibly strikes the rider's skull, the horseman continues approaching before circling Duncan's position and retreating over the ridge without acknowledgment or apparent injury. The episode establishes tension between the skeptical Duncan and unexplainable phenomena in the desolate, heat-ravaged landscape.

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