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.
Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications from 1893 to 1978, comprising more than 4,000 stories by some 200 different authors. Blake was also the hero of numerous silent and sound films, radio serials, and a 1960s ITV television series.
Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typically referred to a story published in weekly parts of 8 to 16 pages, each costing one penny. The subject matter of these stories was typically sensational, focusing on the exploits of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities. First published in the 1830s, penny dreadfuls featured characters such as Sweeney Todd, Dick Turpin, Varney the Vampire and Spring-heeled Jack.
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the largest publishing company in the world, AP employed writers such as Arthur Mee, John Alexander Hammerton, Edwy Searles Brooks, and Charles Hamilton; and its subsidiary, the Educational Book Company, published The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia. The company's newspapers included the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, The Evening News, The Observer, and The Times. At its height, AP published over 70 magazines and operated three large printing works and paper mills in South London.
A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. Also known in Britain as "boys' weeklies", story papers were phenomenally popular before the outbreak of the Second World War.
The Evening News, earlier styled as The Evening News, and from 1889 to 1894 The Evening News and Post, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London. After financial struggles and falling sales, it was eventually merged with its long-time rival the Evening Standard in 1980. The newspaper was revived for an eight-month period in 1987.
Story Paper Collectors' Digest was a journal published from November 1946 until May 2005, and with special intermittent issues continuing on until late 2007. It was created by Herbert Leckenby. With articles on story papers, it heavily featured the work of Charles Hamilton, Edwy Searles Brooks and the tales of detectives Sexton Blake and Nelson Lee. It was published monthly until 2004. The editors were Herbert Leckenby until his death in October 1959, then Eric Fayne until January 1987 when he retired as editor, then Mary Cadogan.
Magazines intended for boys fall into one of three classifications. These are comics which tell the story by means of strip cartoons; story papers which have several short stories; and pulp magazines which have a single, but complete, novella in them. The latter were not for the younger child and were often detective or western in content and were generally greater in cost. Several titles were published monthly whereas the other two categories were more frequent.
The Halfpenny Marvel was a British story paper for children of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, published by Amalgamated Press.
Detective Weekly was a weekly British story paper that ran for 379 issues, from February 25, 1933 to May 25, 1940.
The Boys' Friend was a British story paper of the early 20th century, published by Amalgamated Press from 1895 to 1927.
Eric Robert Parker was a prolific British illustrator and comics artist best known for illustrating the adventures of Sexton Blake in various periodicals.
Francis (Frank) Howel Evans (1867–1931) was a Welsh author who wrote for many British story papers such as Chums, The Boy's Own Paper, and The Boys' Friend during the first few decades of the 20th century. He also wrote under the pen names Atherley Daunt and Crutchley Payne. Many of his stories take place in the theatre.
George Hamilton Teed was a Canadian author who also wrote under the pen-names G. H. Teed, Peter Kingsland, and Desmond Reid. Teed was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick. He specialized in adventure fiction and detective stories starring Sexton Blake, but also wrote a few science fiction tales and several stories starring detectives Nelson Lee and Dixon Hawke. He penned over 400 tales and is considered to be one of the best Sexton Blake authors of all time. He created the longest list and the most varied gallery of characters in the Blake canon, his most unique contribution perhaps being the many strong female adversaries he pitted against Blake.
Nelson Lee was one of the longest-running detectives of the British story papers. Throughout his 40-year run in the Amalgamated Press papers, he was perhaps second only to Sexton Blake in popularity. Created in 1894 by Maxwell Scott he appeared in various publications including The Halfpenny Marvel, Pluck, The Boys' Friend, Boy’s Realm, The Boys' Herald and the Union Jack In 1915 he was given his own story-paper series, The Nelson Lee Library, which ran until 1933. In all Lee appeared in over 2500 tales set in every corner of the globe, making him one of the most published fictional detectives of all time.
John William Staniforth was a British writer who wrote under the pen-names Stain Cortley, John Andrews and Maxwell Scott.
Henry Thomas (Harry) Blyth (1852–1898) was a British writer who also wrote under the pen-name Hal Meredith. Blyth was born in Greenwich, London. He wrote for many of Alfred Harmsworth's papers of the 1890s, and is mostly remembered for creating detective Sexton Blake.
William Murray Graydon was an extremely prolific American writer who also wrote under the pen-names Alfred Armitage, William Murray, and Tom Olliver. He wrote adventure, historical fiction and Sexton Blake detective stories for boy's story papers.
The Nelson Lee Library was a story paper of the first third of the 20th century, published by Amalgamated Press. It featured the adventures of private detective Nelson Lee and his boy assistant Nipper.
The Sexton Blake Library was a story paper of the first two-thirds of the 20th century, published by Amalgamated Press. It featured the adventures of private detective Sexton Blake, his boy assistant Tinker and their dog Pedro.
