A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1889 — 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 · 1889

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625

1889 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 625 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue of Beadle's Half-Dime Library (July 16, 1889) features the opening chapters of "The Heroes of the Crater: A Romance of the No Man's Border" by Jos. E. Badger, Jr., a frontier adventure serial. The narrative introduces Chincapin Dan, a boy trailer living with his adoptive father Todd Dickerman and sister Elma in a canvas-covered wagon on the frontier. Dickerman reveals to Elma that she is not his biological daughter but a stolen child, producing a locket containing portraits of her true parents—a young military officer and woman. Dickerman confesses he is fleeing from a mysterious man he fears greatly, suggesting supernatural dread ("ha'nted"). The story establishes themes of pursuit, hidden identity, and frontier survival, with Dickerman's anxiety mounting as he scouts their camp, dreading the pursuer's approach before they can reach Texas.

Browse this issue page by page

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