Evening star., 1937-06-28
ROOSEVELT RIDES
DIME NOVEL HOBBY
Joins Throng of Notab|es
Collecting Old Paper
Bound Books.
n the Associated Press,


paratively recently, according to word
IN the dime-novel trade, thus joining
. throng of notables, described as
shrinking violets," who are adding
the thrillers Of past generation to
their libraries, without saying much
about it.
The little paper-bound books, how
ever, are no longer simply thrillers:
they have climbed the social scale in
recent years to eenteel place marked
Americana"
Truant boys. who once shivered to
the exploits Of Buffalo Bill' in the
safety of woodsheds and barn lofts
could now find their hero only in the
rare book rooms Of a few libraries.
And "Deadwood Dick" the one time
pal Of the street urchin. has become
tho steadfast friend OF the college
professor.
Some Items Valuable.
A few 1njuns still bite the dust be-
tween crumbling covers in forgotten
trunks and hidden attic corners. They
turn up here and there every now and
then. II you locate some. grab them
and yell for book collector. You
may be holding $1,000 worth Of very
scarce literature.
At least one dime novel fancier is
willing to pay that price for a single
copy Of "Malaeska, the Indian Wife"
the first dime novel ever published. He
made tho offer recently to another
collector. Charles Bragin. of Brook
lyn. who says there are but three
copies Of ''Malaeska" known to exist,
including one In the Library Of Con-
gress and one in the New York Public
Library. The top price on record for
an actual purchase is $475, almost
5000 times the original cost OF the
book. The purchase was made last
year, but collectors will not disclose
the name OF the item. Average prices
range from 81 to $40.
The reluctance to name names Is
only one example of the secretiveness
which envelops dime-novel collecting.
The collectors themselves do not
want to be publicly known in most
cases. Charles Jonas Of Evanston. ul
real estate man who is probably the
veteran Of the game, has the reputa-
ton OF being known by every one (of
the collectors), vet never seen by
any one" Prof. Albert Johannsen Of
University OF Chicago, owner OF one
OF the largest collections in existence.
shuns public notice and calls most
OF the other 1000 collectors in the
country shrinking violets."
Other Collectors
Other collectors include Mai. Lenox
Lohr Of New York. president of the
National Broadcasting Co.; George
Hess OF Minneapolis, controller of the
Northern Pacific Railway; Bertrand
Couch OF San Francisco, one of the
first "G-men"; Valta Parma of Wash
hgton, D. c., rare book curator of
the Library OF Congress; John T. Nc
1ntyre, the writer Of Philadelphia;
George Ball, the 1ndustrialist, of Mum
Gle. Ind; Fulton Oursler, magazine
editor. and William Burns of Rock
ford, Me.
Ask collectors which novels are rar-
est. ana each probably will give a
different answer One may name the
Beadle publications, which were first
IN the field; another, the Frank
Reade library. Others may pick "old
Cap Collier" Nick Carter" Fred
Fearnot," "Old Sleuth' or THE
James Boys 1t depends largely on
what series OF novels the collector
read as boy. for sentiment and child.
hood memory are almost invariably
the motives for collecting. And once
collector gets hold Of his favorites,
he rarely lets 60.
This was so universally true when
Bragin started his collection during
the depression that when he adver.
tised that he had a sum to invest In
dime novels, only one collector, Jonas
OF Evanston, offered to give him a
start. Bragin, thereupon, did what
many other collectors did before him.
He got mad, and determined to SHOW
them" He organized his own staf1
throughout the country, and piled
up some $4,000 items into what he
believes Is the largest collection in
the country.
Many collectors prefer to work
alone, rummaging around at auction
sales, In trunks, old chests and book
cases: snooping in attics and the lofts
Of farm buildings.
The scope Of the collecting business
Is enormous. At least $4,000 paper
bound books are known to have been
published between 1850 and 1910.
Begun in 1865.
The reason for the sudden surge
u reader interest at the time of the
dime novels advent has never been
explained. A young printer, Erastus
Beadle Of New York. decided one dav
In the late 1850s that If dime song
books. which were then 50 popular.
could sell, the public would surely
buy story books at the same price. He
was right.
The first novels he published were
pocket size. in bright orange covers.
Written in the general style of James
Fenimore Cooper, they were published
weekly, each about 100 pages long.
Millions Of them were sold to SOL
diers in the Civil War. They went
from hand to hand in the trenches
until they were worn out,
These books were tame compared
to the food of works which followed
Other publishers came to compete
with the Beadles, among them George
Munro, Beadle's printing house fore
man. Munro popped up the novels
and Beadle was forced to follow suit.
The covers of the books assumed
more striking colors. The size Of the
pamphlets increased to by IL inches
to permit better illustrations. Munro &
big idea was to make the cover picture
sell the book.
Then came Frank Tousey, nephew
Of Sinclair Tousey, founder of the
American News Co. Believing he could
sell more books to boys than to adults