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. 681

1890 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 681 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue of Beadle and Adams' weekly contains "Double-Curve Dan's Dead Ball" by George C. Jenks, featuring the protagonist of the author's "Pitcher Detective" series. The story opens with a baseball game between the New York Toughs and Albany Stars in Brooklyn, where Dan pitches masterfully, striking out the opposing team's slugger Red Gabe with his signature curveball technique. Gabe confronts Dan afterward, revealing knowledge of his detective work, and challenges him to a midnight meeting at Cooney Maul's place in the Bowery. While leaving the field, Dan encounters a veiled young woman on the street; when Gabe and an old groundskeeper named Sol Nugent accost her, Dan intervenes, knocking both men unconscious. The narrative then shifts to a Brooklyn musical instrument shop run by Irish proprietor Tim Martin, where his daughter Marion—the veiled woman—returns home frightened, explaining she has encountered Gabriel Kerr again. The story establishes a mystery involving Marion, Kerr, and the detective protagonist.

Browse this issue page by page

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