The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term dime novel has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, referring to story papers , five- and ten-cent weeklies, "thick book" reprints, and sometimes early pulp magazines . The term was used as a title as late as 1940, in the short-lived pulp magazine Western Dime Novels . In the modern age, the term dime novel has been used to refer to quickly written, lurid potboilers , usually as a pejorative to describe a sensationalized but superficial literary work.
69-613: Deadwood Dick is a fictional character who appears in a series of stories, or dime novels , published between 1877 and 1897 by Edward Lytton Wheeler (1854/5–1885). The name became so widely known in its time that it was used to advantage by several men who actually resided in Deadwood, South Dakota . Those who took the nickname included: Others more briefly associated with the name were Richard Palmer, who died in Cripple Creek , Colorado , in 1906, and Robert Dickey, who died in
138-438: A Denver hospital jail in 1912. The syndicated anthology television series Death Valley Days presented a 1966 episode entitled "The Resurrection of Deadwood Dick," with character actor Denver Pyle in the starring role. This article about a fictional character from a novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on
207-478: A Phrygian cap , a classic Western symbol of liberty and freedom, with its wings intended to symbolize freedom of thought. Designed by noted sculptor Adolph A. Weinman , the Winged Liberty Head dime is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful U.S. coin designs ever produced. The composition (90% silver, 10% copper) and diameter (17.9 millimeters) of the "Mercury" dime was unchanged from
276-749: A "sort of aristocratic jargon, ... hardly less remote from pure language than was the coarse dialect of the people." According to Tocqueville, due to the heterogeneity of its population, the situation in the U.S. was different, and people were asking for reading matter. Since, in his view, practically every American was busy earning a living with no time for obtaining a higher education let alone for timeconsuming distractions, they preferred books which "may be easily procured, quickly read, and which require no learned researches to be understood ... they require rapid emotions, startling passages .... Small productions will be more common than bulky books ... The object of authors will be to astonish rather than to please, and to stir
345-406: A cover illustration, in a salmon-colored paper wrapper. A woodblock print was added in issue 29, and the first 28 were reprinted with illustrated covers. The books were priced, of course, at ten cents. This series ran for 321 issues and established almost all the conventions of the genre, from the lurid and outlandish story to the melodramatic double titling used throughout the series, which ended in
414-400: A higher-grade stock. They reprinted multiple stories from the five- and ten-cent weeklies, often slightly rewritten to tie them together. All dime-novel publishers were canny about reusing and refashioning material, but Street & Smith excelled at it. They developed the practice of publishing four consecutive, related tales of, for example, Nick Carter, in the weekly magazine, then combining
483-409: A pure copper core. Pre-1965 dimes followed Gresham's law and vanished from ordinary currency circulation at face value. Most now trade as informal bullion coins known as junk silver , priced at some multiple of face value, which price follows the spot price of silver on commodity markets. Starting in 1992, the U.S. Mint began issuing Silver Proof Sets annually, which contain dimes composed of
552-415: A report to Congress . Among the six was a silver coin, "which shall be, in weight and value, one-tenth part of a silver unit or dollar". From 1796 to 1837, dimes were composed of 89.24% silver and 10.76% copper, the value of which required the coins to be physically very small to prevent their commodity value from being worth more than face value . Thus dimes are made small and thin. The silver percentage
621-419: A serious rival to the soon-to-be-popular Frank Merriwell), Secret Service , Pluck and Luck , Wild West Weekly , Fame and Fortune Weekly , and The Liberty Boys of '76 , each of which issued over a thousand copies weekly. Street & Smith had New Nick Carter Weekly , Tip Top Weekly , Buffalo Bill Stories , Jesse James Stories , Brave & Bold Weekly and many others. The Tousey stories were generally
690-495: A specific weight of these coins, no matter the mixture of denominations, would always be worth the same. This relation in weight and value continued in the cupronickel coins from 1965 on. This produced the greatest rarities in the Seated Dime Series, the 1873 and 1874 Carson City Dimes, with arrows and the unique 1873 Carson City Dime without arrows. The Barber dime is named for its designer, Charles E. Barber , who
759-593: A total composition of 91.67% Cu and 8.33% Ni . This composition was selected because it gave similar mass (now 2.268 grams instead of 2.5 grams) and electrical properties (important in vending machines )—and most importantly, because it contained no precious metal. The Roosevelt dime has been minted every year, beginning in 1946. Through 1955, all three mints, Philadelphia , Denver , and San Francisco produced circulating coinage; production at San Francisco ended in 1955, resuming in 1968 with proof coinage only. Through 1964 "D" and "S" mintmarks can be found to
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#1732791840876828-402: A weekly in a smaller format with muted colors. Such titles as New Nick Carter Weekly (continuing the original black-and-white Nick Carter Library ), Tip-Top Weekly (introducing Frank Merriwell ) and others were 7 x 10 inches with thirty-two pages of text, but the 8.5 x 11 Tousey format carried the day, and Street & Smith soon followed suit. The price was also dropped to five cents, making
897-433: A weekly schedule. They are perhaps best described as the television of their day, containing a variety of serial stories and articles, with something aimed at each member of the family, and often illustrated profusely with woodcuts. Popular story papers included The Saturday Journal , Young Men of America , Golden Weekly , Golden Hours , Good News , and Happy Days . Most of the stories in dime novels stood alone, but in
966-649: A whole, the quality of the fiction was derided by highbrow critics, and the term dime novel came to refer to any form of cheap, sensational fiction, rather than the specific format. Nonetheless, the pocket-sized sea, Western, railway, circus, gold-digger, and other adventures were an instant success. Author Armin Jaemmrich observes that Alexis de Tocqueville 's thesis in Democracy in America (1835) says that in democratic and socially permeable societies, like that of
1035-494: Is an example) to 8.5 x 12 ( New York Detective Library ). The Old Cap Collier Library was issued in both sizes and also in booklet form. Each issue tended to feature a single story, unlike the story papers, and many of them were devoted to a single character. Frontier stories, evolving into westerns, were still popular, but the new vogue tended to urban crime stories. One of the most successful titles, Frank Tousey 's New York Detective Library eventually came to alternate stories of
1104-564: Is of a small bald eagle surrounded by palm and olive branches, and perched on a cloud. Since the Coinage Act of 1792 required only that the cent and half cent display their denomination , Draped Bust dimes were minted with no indication of their value. All 1796 dimes have 15 stars on the obverse, representing the number of U.S. states then in the Union. The first 1797 dimes were minted with 16 stars, reflecting Tennessee 's admission as
1173-521: The New York Weekly . Frank Reade, the Old Sleuth and Nick Carter had their own ten-cent weekly titles within a few years. In 1873, the house of Beadle & Adams introduced a new ten-cent format, 9 by 13.25 inches (229 mm × 337 mm), with only 32 pages and a black-and-white illustration on the cover, under the title New and Old Friends . It was not a success, but the format
1242-532: The Old French disme ( Modern French dîme), meaning " tithe " or "tenth part", from the Latin decima [pars] . The dime is currently the only United States coin in general circulation that is not denominated in terms of dollars or cents . As of 2011 , the dime cost 5.65 cents to produce. The Coinage Act of 1792 established the dime (spelled "disme" in the legislation), cent , and mill as subdivisions of
1311-556: The Roosevelt dime was the first regular-issue U.S. coin designed by a Mint employee in more than 40 years. Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock was chosen, as he had already designed a Mint presidential medal of Roosevelt. Sinnock's first design, submitted on October 12, 1945, was rejected, but a subsequent one was accepted on January 6, 1946. The dime was released to the public on January 30, 1946, which would have been Roosevelt's 64th birthday. Sinnock's design placed his initials ("JS") at
1380-601: The "7" is straight. In the Small Date variety, the "3" has a rounded serif, and there is small a knob, or bulge, in the "7" horizontal element. Only the Philadelphia Mint made both varieties. The Small Date is slightly rarer. The New Orleans Mint also made the Seated Liberty Dime in this year, but only in the Small Date variety. Thirteen stars (symbolizing the 13 original colonies) were added to
1449-488: The 16th state. Realizing that the practice of adding one star per state could quickly clutter the coin's design, U.S. Mint Director Elias Boudinot ordered a design alteration, to feature just 13 stars (for the original Thirteen Colonies ). Therefore, 1797 dimes can be found with either 13 or 16 stars. Also designed by Robert Scot, the Heraldic Eagle reverse design made its debut in 1798. The obverse continued from
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#17327918408761518-444: The 1920s. Most of the stories were frontier tales reprinted from the numerous serials in the story papers and other sources, but many were original stories. As the popularity of dime novels increased, original stories came to be the norm. The books were reprinted many times, sometimes with different covers, and the stories were often further reprinted in different series and by different publishers. The literacy rate increased around
1587-570: The Barber dime debuted. Another variety is the 1838–40 dime minted with no drapery underneath the left elbow of Liberty. Arrows at the date in 1853 and 1873 indicated changes made in the coin's mass (from 2.67 grams to 2.49 grams in 1853, then to 2.50 grams in 1873). The first change was made in response to rising silver prices, while the latter alteration was brought about by the Mint Act of 1873 which, in an attempt to make U.S. coinage
1656-426: The Barber dime. Weinman (who had studied under Augustus Saint-Gaudens ) won a 1915 competition against two other artists for the design job, and is thought to have modeled his version of Liberty on Elsie Kachel Stevens, wife of noted poet Wallace Stevens . The reverse design, a fasces juxtaposed with an olive branch, was intended to symbolize America's readiness for war, combined with its desire for peace. Although
1725-480: The Capped Bust, designed by Mint Assistant Engraver John Reich. Both the obverse and reverse were changed extensively. The new reverse featured a bald eagle grasping three arrows (symbolizing strength) and an olive branch (symbolizing peace). Covering the eagle's breast is a U.S. shield with six horizontal lines and 13 vertical stripes. Also on the reverse is the lettering "10C," making it the only dime minted with
1794-489: The James Gang with stories of Old King Brady, detective, and (in a rare occurrence in the dime novel) several stories which featured both, with Old King Brady doggedly on the trail of the vicious gang. The competition was fierce, and publishers were always looking for an edge. Once again, color came into play when Frank Tousey introduced a weekly with brightly colored covers in 1896. Street & Smith countered by issuing
1863-576: The Mercury dime with one bearing Roosevelt's image. The dime was chosen to honor Roosevelt partly due to his efforts in the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later renamed the March of Dimes ), which originally raised money for polio research and to aid victims of the disease and their families. Due to the limited amount of time available to design the new coin,
1932-702: The Recorder of Deeds Building in Washington, D.C. in September 1945. Sinnock denied this and stated that he simply utilized his earlier design on the Roosevelt medal. With the passage of the Coinage Act of 1965 , the composition of the dime changed from 90% silver and 10% copper to a clad "sandwich" of pure copper inner layer between two outer layers of cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) alloy giving
2001-628: The Seated Liberty dime, whose obverse was used with every circulating silver U.S. coin of the period. Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson requested a new coin design, to be reminiscent of the Britannia image found on coinage of the United Kingdom . Chief Engraver William Kneass drew the original sketches, but suffered a stroke and was too ill to finish them or to oversee preparation of the dies . The task then fell to Gobrecht, who
2070-410: The U.S., the lower classes were not "naturally indifferent to science, literature, and the arts: only it must be acknowledged that they cultivate them after their own fashion, and bring to the task their own peculiar qualifications and deficiencies." He found that in aristocratic societies education and interest in literature were confined to a small upper class, and that the literary class would arrive at
2139-605: The article's talk page . Dime novels In 1860, the publishers Erastus and Irwin Beadle released a new series of cheap paperbacks, Beadle's Dime Novels . Dime novel became a general term for similar paperbacks produced by various publishers in the early twentieth century. The first book in the Beadle series was Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter , by Ann S. Stephens , dated June 9, 1860. The novel
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2208-472: The base of Roosevelt's neck, on the coin's obverse. His reverse design elements of a torch, olive branch, and oak branch symbolized, respectively, liberty, peace, and strength. Controversy immediately ensued, as strong anti-Communist sentiment in the United States led to the circulation of rumors that the "JS" engraved on the coin was the initials of Joseph Stalin , placed there by a Soviet agent in
2277-402: The cheap publications were crumbling into dust and becoming hard to find. Two collectors, Charles Bragin and Ralph Cummings, issued a number of reprints of hard-to-find titles from some of the weekly libraries. Dime (United States coin) The dime , in United States usage, is a ten- cent coin , one tenth of a United States dollar , labeled formally as "one dime". The denomination
2346-662: The coin and production problems at the United States Mint . The first dime to be circulated was the Draped Bust dime, in 1796. It featured the same obverse and reverse as all other circulating coins of the time, the so-called Draped Bust/Small Eagle design. This design was the work of then-Chief Engraver Robert Scot . The portrait of Liberty on the obverse was based on a Gilbert Stuart drawing of prominent Philadelphia socialite Ann Willing Bingham, wife of noted American statesman William Bingham . The reverse design
2415-402: The committees and public design competitions and simply instructed Barber to develop a new design. It has been speculated that this is what Barber had wanted all along. The Barber dime, as with all previous dimes, featured an image of Liberty on the obverse. She is wearing a Phrygian cap , a laurel wreath with a ribbon, and a headband with the inscription "LIBERTY". This inscription is one of
2484-468: The currency of the world, added a small amount of mass to the dime, quarter, and half-dollar to bring their weights in line with fractions of the French 5- franc piece. The change also ensured the quarter dollar (which is valued 2.5 times the dime) weighed 2.5 times the dime (6.25g), and the half dollar (twice the value of the quarter dollar) weighed twice what the quarter dollar weighed (12.5g). In this way,
2553-519: The dollar equal to 1 ⁄ 10 , 1 ⁄ 100 and 1 ⁄ 1000 dollar respectively. The first known proposal for a decimal -based coinage system in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson , Benjamin Franklin , Alexander Hamilton , and David Rittenhouse . Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury , recommended the issuance of six such coins in 1791, in
2622-521: The fasces was later officially adopted by Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party , the symbol was also common in American iconography and has generally avoided any stigma associated with its usage in wartime Italy. Soon after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in April 1945, legislation was introduced by Virginia Congressman Ralph H. Daughton that called for the replacement of
2691-425: The first series. Like its predecessor, Beadle's New Dime Novels ran for 321 issues, until 1885. Much of the content of dime novels came from story papers , which were weekly, eight-page newspaper-like publications, varying in size from tabloid to full-size newspaper format and usually costing five or six cents. They started in the mid-1850s and were immensely popular, some titles being issued for over fifty years on
2760-597: The four stories into one edition of the related thick-book series, in this instance, the New Magnet Library . The Frank Merriwell stories appeared in the Medal, New Medal and Merriwell libraries, Buffalo Bill in the Buffalo Bill Library and Far West Library , and so on. The thick books were still in print as late as the 1930s but carry the copyright date of the original story, often as early as
2829-457: The key elements used in determining the condition of Barber dimes. Liberty's portrait was inspired by two sources—French coins and medals of the period, as well as ancient Greek and Roman sculpture . The obverse also contains the long-used 13 stars (for the 13 colonies) design element. The reverse contained a wreath and inscription almost identical to the one used on the final design of the Seated Liberty dime. Dimes were produced at all four of
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2898-528: The late 1880s series characters began to appear and quickly grew in popularity. The original Frank Reade stories first appeared in Boys of New York . The Old Sleuth, appearing in The Fireside Companion story paper beginning in 1872, was the first dime-novel detective and began the trend away from the western and frontier stories that dominated the story papers and dime novels up to that time. He
2967-426: The late nineteenth century, leading some dealers and new collectors today to erroneously assume they have original dime novels when the books are only distantly related. In 1896, Frank Munsey had converted his juvenile magazine Argosy into a fiction magazine for adults, the first of the pulp magazines. By the turn of the century, new high-speed printing techniques combined with cheaper pulp paper allowed him to drop
3036-481: The left of the torch. From 1968, the mintmarks have appeared above the date. None were used in 1965–67, and Philadelphia did not show a mintmark until 1980 (in 1982, an error left the "P" off a small number of dimes, which are now valuable). To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the design, the 1996 mint sets included a "W" mintmarked dime made at the West Point Mint . A total of 1,457,000 dimes were issued in
3105-447: The magazines more accessible to children. This would be the last major permutation of the product before it evolved into pulp magazines. Ironically, for many years it has been the nickel weeklies that most people refer to when using the term dime novel . The nickel weeklies were popular, and their numbers grew quickly. Frank Tousey and Street & Smith dominated the field. Tousey had his "big six": Work and Win (featuring Fred Fearnot,
3174-526: The mint. The Mint quickly issued a statement denying this, confirming that the initials were indeed Sinnock's. The same rumor arose after the release of the Sinnock designed Franklin half dollar in 1948. Another controversy surrounding Sinnock's design involves his image of Roosevelt. Soon after the coin's release, it was claimed that Sinnock borrowed his design of Roosevelt from a bas relief created by African American sculptor Selma Burke , unveiled at
3243-412: The mintage of a "disme", one-tenth the silver weight and value of a dollar. The composition of the disme was set at 89.24% silver and 10.76% copper. In 1792, a limited number of dismes were minted but never circulated. Some of these were struck in copper, indicating that the 1792 dismes were in fact pattern coins . The first dimes minted for circulation did not appear until 1796, due to a lack of demand for
3312-490: The mints that operated during the period. While circulated coins of the entire series are readily available to collectors there is one outstanding rarity, the 1894-S Barber Dime . Twenty-four were minted, with 9 currently known. Although most commonly referred to as the "Mercury" dime, the Winged Liberty Head does not depict the Roman messenger god . The obverse figure is a depiction of the mythological goddess Liberty wearing
3381-426: The more lurid and sensational of the two. Perhaps the most confusing of the various formats lumped together under the term dime novel are the so-called "thick-book" series, most of which were published by Street & Smith, J. S. Ogilvie and Arthur Westbrook. These books were published in series, contained roughly 150 to 200 pages, and were 4.75 by 7 inches (121 mm × 178 mm), often with color covers on
3450-507: The new method allowed the Mint to produce thicker coins. To maintain a standard weight and alloy, the diameter of most coins was reduced. In particular, the dime was reduced in diameter from 18.8 to 18.5 millimeters. This new Capped Bust dime, which began production in 1828, is known as the Small type. There are 123 varieties known of Capped Bust Dimes. Christian Gobrecht completed the design of
3519-399: The novelty of color to the covers when their New Dime Novels series replaced the flagship title. The New Dime Novels were issued with a dual numbering system on the cover, one continuing the numbering from the first series and the second and more prominent one indicating the number in the current series; for example, the first issue was numbered 1 (322). The stories were mostly reprints from
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#17327918408763588-416: The passions more than to charm the taste." Written twenty-five years prior to the emergence of the dimes, his words read like an exact anticipation of their main characteristics. Adding to the general confusion as to what is or is not a dime novel, many of the series, though similar in design and subject, cost ten (a dime ) to fifteen cents. Beadle & Adams complicated the matter by issuing some titles in
3657-417: The perimeter of the obverse in 1838. These were replaced with the legend "United States of America," which was moved from the reverse in mid-1860. At the same time, the laurel wreath on the reverse was changed to a wreath of corn, wheat, maple, and oak leaves and expanded nearly to the rim of the coin. This reverse design continued through the end of the series in 1891 and was changed only slightly in 1892, when
3726-474: The pre-1965 standard of 90% silver and 10% copper, then switched to .999 fine silver from 2019 onward. These sets are intended solely for collectors and are not meant for general circulation. Since its introduction in 1796, the dime has been issued in six different major types, excluding the 1792 "disme". The name for each type (except for the Barber dime) indicates the design on the coin's obverse . The Coinage Act of 1792, passed on April 2, 1792, authorized
3795-465: The previous series, but the eagle on the reverse was changed from the widely criticized "scrawny" hatchling to a scaled-down version of the Great Seal of the United States . The Draped Bust/Heraldic Eagles series continued through 1807 (although no dimes dated 1799 or 1806 were minted). Both Draped Bust designs were composed of 89.24% silver and 10.76% copper. The Draped Bust design was succeeded by
3864-493: The price from twenty-five cents to ten cents, and sales of the magazine took off. In 1910, Street and Smith converted two of their nickel weeklies, New Tip Top Weekly and Top Notch Magazine , into pulps; in 1915, Nick Carter Stories , itself a replacement for the New Nick Carter Weekly , became Detective Story Magazine , and in 1919, New Buffalo Bill Weekly became Western Story Magazine . Harry Wolff,
3933-829: The same salmon-colored covers at different prices. Also, there were a number of ten-cent, paper-covered books of the period that featured medieval romance stories and melodramatic tales. This makes it hard to define what falls in the category of the dime novel, with classification depending on format, price, or style of material. Examples of dime novel series that illustrate the diversity of the form include Bunce's Ten Cent Novels , Brady's Mercury Stories , Beadle's Dime Novels , Irwin P. Beadle's Ten Cent Stories , Munro's Ten Cent Novels , Dawley's Ten Penny Novels , Fireside Series , Chaney's Union Novels , DeWitt's Ten Cent Romances , Champion Novels , Frank Starr's American Novels , Ten Cent Novelettes , Richmond's Sensation Novels , and Ten Cent Irish Novels . In 1874, Beadle & Adams added
4002-532: The successor in interest to the Frank Tousey titles, continued to reprint many of them into the mid-1920s, most notably Secret Service, Pluck and Luck, Fame and Fortune and Wild West Weekly . These two series were purchased by Street & Smith in 1926 and converted into pulp magazines the following year, effectively ending the era of the dime novel. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, collecting dime novels became popular, and prices soared. Even at that time,
4071-529: The time of the American Civil War , and Beadle's Dime Novels were immediately popular among young, working-class readers. By the end of the war, numerous competitors, such as George Munro and Robert DeWitt, were crowding the field, distinguishing their product only by title and the color of the paper wrappers. Beadle & Adams had their own alternate "brands", such as the Frank Starr line. As
4140-420: The value given in cents (subsequent issues are inscribed with the words "ONE DIME"). The lack of numeric value markings on subsequent dime coins causes some confusion amongst foreign visitors, who may be unaware of the value of the coin. Also, the Capped Bust dime was the first dime to have its value written on the coin. Previous designs of the dime had no indication of its value, the way people determined its value
4209-479: Was Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint from 1879 to 1917. The design was shared with the quarter and half-dollar of the same period. Extensive internal politics surrounded the awarding of the design job, which had initially been opened to the public. A four-member committee (which included Barber), appointed by then-Mint Director James Kimball, accorded only two of more than 300 submissions an honorable mention. Kimball's successor, Edward O. Leech, decided to dispense with
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#17327918408764278-455: Was by its size Capped Bust dimes minted through 1828 are known as the Large type. This is partially because they were struck without a restraining collar, which gave them a broader appearance. In 1828, Chief Engraver William Kneass introduced the close collar method of coining (which automated the process of placing reeds on a coin's edge). In addition to standardizing the diameter of coins,
4347-527: Was essentially a reprint of Stephens's earlier serial, which had appeared in the Ladies' Companion magazine in February, March and April 1839. It sold more than 65,000 copies in the first few months after its publication as a dime novel. Dime novels varied in size, even in the first Beadle series, but were mostly about 6.5 by 4.25 inches (16.5 by 10.8 cm), with 100 pages. The first 28 were published without
4416-485: Was first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792 . The dime is the smallest in diameter and is the thinnest of all U.S. coins currently minted for circulation, being 0.705 inches (17.91 millimeters) in diameter and 0.053 in (1.35 mm) in thickness. The obverse of the current dime depicts the profile of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the reverse has an olive branch, a torch, and an oak branch, from left to right respectively. The word dime comes from
4485-463: Was increased to 90.0% with the introduction of the Seated Liberty dime; the use of a richer alloy was offset by reducing the diameter from 18.8 millimeters (0.740 inches) to its current figure of 17.9 millimeters (0.705 inches). With the passage of the Coinage Act of 1965 , the dime's silver content was removed . Dimes from 1965 to the present are struck from a clad metal composed of outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel alloy, bonded to
4554-482: Was permanently removed from circulating dimes. There were several minor varieties during the Seated Liberty's run. The initial design (1837) had no stars on the obverse and, further, the dates were minted in a Large Date and Small Date variety. These two types can be distinguished by noting the "3" and the "7" in the date. In the Large Date variety, the "3" has a pointed serif at top, and the horizontal element of
4623-489: Was promoted to Second Engraver. The obverse features an image of Liberty sitting on a rock, wearing a dress and holding a staff with a liberty cap on top. Her right hand is balancing a shield with the inscription "LIBERTY." The reverse featured the inscription "ONE DIME," surrounded by a wreath. All Seated Liberty dimes contain 90% silver and 10% copper, and are 17.9 millimeters (0.705 inch) in diameter. This size and metal composition would continue until 1965, when silver
4692-467: Was so much cheaper to produce that they tried again in 1877 with The Fireside Library and Frank Starr's New York Library . The first reprinted English love stories, the second contained hardier material, but both titles caught on. Publishers were no less eager to follow a new trend then than now. Soon the newsstands were flooded by ten-cent weekly "libraries". These publications also varied in size, from as small as 7 x 10 inches ( The Boy's Star Library
4761-413: Was the first character to use the word sleuth to denote a detective, the word's original definition being that of a bloodhound trained to track. He is also responsible for the popularity of the use of the word old in the names of competing dime novel detectives, such as Old Cap Collier, Old Broadbrim, Old King Brady, Old Lightning, and Old Ferret, among many others. Nick Carter first appeared in 1886 in
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