The New York herald., 1922-07-23

THERE is now on exhibition at
L the New York Public Library
u collection of about 1900 of those
rare little books and magazines
which, beginning about the year
1882 were issued under the broad
and general title of "Dime Novels"
More than 1900 of them are publi-
cations of the house of Beadle &
Adams, of which Erastus Beadle,
the Otsego. printer, was the guiding
spirit. There is particular timeli-
ness that lends interest to the ex-
bibition, for, for some reason or
other-possibly the death two
months ago of the author of the
mick Carter" series started it
the Dime Novel" in its various
aspects has been live. topic re-
Gently, hardly day passing with
out an editorial appearing in some
newspaper on the subject.
THE Bulletin Of the New York
i Public Library sees In the COL
lection, which is the gift of DIR.
Frank P. O'Brien of New York,
more than mere form of reading
Of the past, designed to entertain
youth of a former generation not
over fastidious in its insistence on
literary style and construction. "An
absorbingly interesting assemblage
Of a pioneer literature which has
now wholly vanished, but which for
a generation exercised a profound
influence on the country's thought,
character and habits of mind
these are the Bulletins words, and
1t goes on to say: "The collection is
literally saturated with the pioneer
spirit of America. 1t portrays the
struggles, exploits, trials, dangers,
feats. hardships and daily lives of
the American pioneers from the
days Of the Puritans to the death Of
Custer and breathes the spirit which
for two centuries and half shaped
the conquest of the continent north
Of the Rio Grande."
THE Bulletin goes beyond the
L point of characterizing; it ex-
tolls: 1T is a literature intensely
nationalistic and patriotic in char
acter; obviously designed to stimu-
late adventure, self-reliance and
achievement; to exalt the feats Of
the pioneer men and women who
settled the country and to recite
the conditions under which those
early figures lived and did their
work. 1t is in those obvious quail
ties that the cause of the immense
vogue OF the Beadle books is to be
found during their generation. 1t
was in these attributes also that
their equally great popularity lay,
and no serious student who seeks
to understand the history of this
country and many of it's present
tendencies can fail to obtain bet
ter understanding of such matters
by study of the collection now on
view. 1t is clinic in the subject
OF mass psychology; as valuable to
the university professor for it's sig
nificant historical revelations as il
Is to the gray haired man to whom
1t recalls memories Of boyhood."
nF course there will always be
" those who see in the primrose
on rivers bank" only a primrose.
In its day there were persons who
failed to recognize in the Dime
Novel; those highly stimulating
qualities which the Bulletin en-
phasizes. From the pulpit it was
often denounced as pernicious in
its influence on men and boys, just
as the moving picture is being de-
nOunced to-day. This department
OF the Book Section has no wish to
engage in that controversy long
dead. But one or two points may
legitimately be introduced. At its
worst in the old Dime Novel
there was absent the leer of sex