Cheap, sensational novels, costing a dime. The frist dime novel, published in 1860, was Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter, by Mrs. Anna Sophia Stepehens. It sold 300,000 copies in its' first year alone.
This was followed in the same year by Seth Jones, or Captives of the Wild Frontier, by Edward Ellis, which sold 450,000 copies.
Published in orange covers, the novels featured such characters as Calamity Jane, Deadwood Dick and Kit Carson among others, involving tales of Indians, gunfighters, pioneers, hunters and so on.
They were widely read by Civil War soldiers and adolescents.
(Taken from * Everyday Life in the 1800s, A guide for Writers, Stucents & Historians, by Marc McCutcheon)
Just a bit of history that I find very interesting. Do the math...not bad for that day. Wonder if they had as much trouble getting them in print as we all seem to be having? Now you know where that term came from.
This was followed in the same year by Seth Jones, or Captives of the Wild Frontier, by Edward Ellis, which sold 450,000 copies.
Published in orange covers, the novels featured such characters as Calamity Jane, Deadwood Dick and Kit Carson among others, involving tales of Indians, gunfighters, pioneers, hunters and so on.
They were widely read by Civil War soldiers and adolescents.
(Taken from * Everyday Life in the 1800s, A guide for Writers, Stucents & Historians, by Marc McCutcheon)
Just a bit of history that I find very interesting. Do the math...not bad for that day. Wonder if they had as much trouble getting them in print as we all seem to be having? Now you know where that term came from.