A one-of-a-kind compendium of popular fiction from a bygone era

Dime novels —as fundamentally American as baseball and jazz—were an inexpensive and inexhaustible source of popular entertainment for millions of Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The five novels in this unique anthology are classic examples of the form, which encompassed Westerns, early science fiction, detective and mystery yarns, and Revolutionary War historicals. From the handsome gambler “Dashing Diamond Dick” and the daring inventor in “Over the Andes with Frank Reade, Jr., in His New Air-Ship” to the mythic baseball player in “Frank Merriwell’s Finish,” here are some of the most valiant heroes and notorious rogues in the pantheon. Read together, these novels are fascinating time capsules from a young nation in love with its larger-than-life characters.