A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1890 — 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 · 1890

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664

1890 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 664 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This Western adventure serializes in Beadle and Adams' April 15, 1890 issue. Reporter Charley Kenyon, traveling by stagecoach, extracts frontier lore from driver Billy Boston regarding the outlaw Serpent Sam, who reputedly carries live rattlesnakes in his clothing and operates from Rattlesnake Ridge with his daughter, "Black Bess," as bait for victims. Billy recounts rumors of disappeared men lured by the girl's beauty and suggests Sam may be Navajo Nate, a hanged murderer mysteriously resuscitated, who now pursues revenge against those responsible for his execution. Kenyon, determined to investigate and interview Sam despite warnings, represents the Eastern press encountering Western frontier lawlessness where disappearances warrant no official inquiry and reputation governs survival.

Browse this issue page by page

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