Erastus Flavel Beadle (September 9, 1821 – December 18, 1894) was an American printer and pioneer in publishing

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

Biography

Erastus was born in

Otsego County, New York Otsego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,524. The county seat is Cooperstown. The name ''Otsego'' is from a Mohawk or Oneida word meaning "place of the rock." History In 178 ...

, United States, in 1821, and had a brother, Irwin Pedro Beadle (1826-1882), who assisted him in various business undertakings. They were the grandsons of Benjamin Beadle, a Revolutionary War soldier. After a hiatus in Michigan, the Beadle family moved to New York, and lived in

Chautauqua County, New York Chautauqua County is the westernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the population was 127,657. Its county seat is Mayville, New York, Mayville, an ...

. Erastus worked for a miller named Hayes, where he began his printing career when cutting wooden letters to label bags of grain. In 1838, he was apprenticed to ''H. & E. Phinney'', a publishing firm in

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...

. There he learned typesetting,

stereotyping In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

, binding, and engraving. He married Mary Ann Pennington (d.1889) in 1846, and in 1847 the couple moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, where Erastus worked as a stereotyper. In 1849 Irwin went to Buffalo too, and found a job as a bookbinder. The next year, in 1850, the Beadle brothers set up their own stereotype foundry. Their first publishing venture was the magazine "Youth's Casket", started in 1852. Irwin left the company in 1856 and went to the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska ...

where he acted as a secretary for a company settling the town of Saratoga. The town was busted in the

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...

, and Beadle returned to New York shortly thereafter.The Beadle Collection of Dime Novels. Given to the New York Public Library By Dr. Frank P. O'Brien
''New York Public Library Bulletin, May–June, 1922''

Books for the millions

In 1860, after finally settling down in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Irwin came with an idea to publish, first, ten-cent booklets, and then, a series of paper-covered novels at the same price, which brought him recognition and commercial success. On June 7, 1860, the

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

advertised the first book in the dime novel series, ''Indian Wife of the White Hunter'' written by

Ann S. Stephens Ann Sophia Stephens (March 10, 1810–August 20, 1886) was an American novelist and magazine editor. She was the author of dime novels and is credited as the progenitor of that genre. Early life Ann Sophia Stephens was born on March 30, 1 ...

by printing the following, "Books for the Millions! A dollar book for the dime. 128 pages complete, only Ten Cents!!! Beadle's dime novels No. 1 Maleska." Many established as well as aspiring writers took part in the project geared towards the masses, including William Jared Hall,

Frances Fuller Victor Frances Auretta Fuller (Barritt) Victor (pen names: Florence Fane, Dorothy D.) (May 23, 1826 – November 14, 1902) was an American historian and historical novelist. She has been described as "the first Oregon historian to gain regional and nati ...

, John Neal,

Mayne Reid Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish-American novelist, who fought in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave ...

, A. J. H. Duganne,

Edward S. Ellis Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 – June 20, 1916) was an American author who was born in Ohio and died at Cliff Island, Maine. Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, journalist, and the author of hundreds of books and magazine ...

, William Reynolds Eyster, William W. Busteed, James L. Bowen,

Mary A. Denison Mary Andrews Denison (May 26, 1826October 15, 1911) was an American novelist. She wrote over eighty novels which in total sold more than one million copies. Her writing style was typical of the dime novels popular in the mid-nineteenth century, ...

, Charles Dunning Clark, among others.

Orville James Victor Orville James Victor (October 23, 1827 – March 14, 1910) was an American writer and editor in chief. Biography Victor was born in Sandusky, Ohio to Henry Clay Victor and Gertrude Nash Victor, and had seven siblings; his father operated a h ...

served for nearly thirty years as the series' editor. His wife

Metta Victor Metta Victoria Fuller Victor (née Fuller; March 2, 1831 – June 26, 1885), who used the pen name Seeley Regester among others, was an American novelist, credited with authoring of one of the first detective novels in the United States. She wro ...

was the editor from 1859 to 1861 for Erastus Beadle's monthly magazine ''The Home''. For many years, using several pen names, she wrote novels published by Beadle & Adams.

Later life

Erastus became a millionaire and retired to his estate in

, in 1889, where he died on December 18, 1894.

Recognition

At first, dime novels were denounced as "pernicious and evil" by literary purists. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in July 1907, Charles M. Harvey, a critic, changed the prevailing attitudes after publishing in the

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

a reflective piece titled, ''The Dime Novel in American Life.'' He stated there, In the middle of the same century, Erastus F. Beadle was posthumously recognized as a ''Dime Novel King.'' His papers are archived at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

''The Home''

Beadle & Adams

In 1856 Robert Adams joined the Beadle brothers' company in Buffalo. In 1858 the company relocated to New York City. In 1866 Robert Adams died. His younger brothers William and David Adams in 1866 went into business with Irwin Beadle, who in 1868 made his final retirement from publishing. The firm's publishing offices were on William Street in Manhattan. In 1872 the name "Beadle & Adams" was used for the company run by Erastus Beadle with William and David Adams. After Erastus Beadle died in 1894, Williams Adams became the sole owner of Beadle & Adams. William Adams died in 1896. In 1897 the company Beadle & Adams ceased to exist, the executors of Williams Adams's estate sold the assets of Beadle & Adams to M. J. Ivers & Co., and the Ivers name replaced the Beadle name on the ''Dime Library'' and the other publications formerly belonging to Beadle & Adams. In the 1870s, the series "Lives of Great Americans" presented biographies of

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John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemasonry, freemason and military officer who fought in the Ameri ...

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Israel Putnam Israel Putnam (January 7, 1718 – May 29, 1790), popularly known as "Old Put", was an American military officer and landowner who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He als ...

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, and

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

References

External links

Nickels & Dimes
(Northern Illinois digitized dime novel database)
Northern Illinois University Libraries' Beadle and Adams project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beadle, Erastus Flavel American publishers (people) 1821 births 1894 deaths People from Oswego County, New York 19th-century American businesspeople