A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1893 — 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 · 1893

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854

1893 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This 1893 Beadle and Adams dime novel by George C. Jenks presents "Uncle Sam's Detective in Chicago; or The Country Postmaster Among Bunco-Men," subtitled "A Story of the Underground Counterfeiters' Den." Inspector John Gripp of the Secret Service assigns young detective Ralph Rapier—nicknamed "Ready" for his perpetual alertness—to investigate counterfeit ten-dollar bills flooding Chicago's World's Fair grounds. Gripp suspects Smasher Jim (James Wilkins), recently released from Columbus Penitentiary, operates the counterfeiting operation. On the train to Chicago, Rapier recognizes a suspicious passenger matching Smasher's description. When the man abandons his berth during a night stop, Rapier pursues. After leaping from the moving train, he encounters Smasher wielding a bowie-knife in darkness, barely deflecting a lethal blow before his quarry vanishes.

Browse this issue page by page

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