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

Biography Erastus was born in Otsego County, New York, 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. 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. There he learned typesetting, stereotyping, binding, and engraving. He married Mary Ann Pennington (d.1889) in 1846,The New York Times; February 29, 1884, Wednesday; A singular case of domestic misery was brought up for settlement in Judge Massey's court, Brooklyn, yesterday. The wife of Irwin F. Beadle, a son of Erastus Beadle, the dime novel publisher, sues him for abandonment. The couple were married about nine years ago, ... . and in 1847 the couple moved to Buffalo, New York, 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.Irwin and Erastus Beadle, Innovators in Publishing Popular Literature, Tavistock Books 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 where he acted as a secretary for a company settling the town of Saratoga. The town was busted in the Panic of 1857, 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, 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 advertised the first book in the dime novel series, Indian Wife of the White Hunter written by Ann S. Stephens 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."Johannsen, Albert. The House of Beadle and Adams and its Dime and Nickel Novels: The Story of a Vanished Literature. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950. (reproduction of 1860 original)

Many established as well as aspiring writers took part in the project geared towards the masses, including William Jared Hall, Frances Fuller Victor, John Neal, Mayne Reid, A. J. H. Duganne, Edward S. Ellis, William Reynolds Eyster, William W. Busteed, James L. Bowen, Mary A. Denison, Charles Dunning Clark, among others. Orville James Victor served for nearly thirty years as the series' editor. His wife Metta Victor 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 Cooperstown, New York, in 1889, where he died on December 18, 1894.The New York Times; December 20, 1894, Wednesday; Erastus Flavius Beadle. Erastus Flavius Beadle, the senior member of the publishing house of Beadle Adams, died at his home in Cooperstown, New York, Tuesday night. Mr. Beadle was born in Otsego County in 1821.

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 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.Lutes, Della T. Erastus F. Beadle: Dime Novel King, New York History, vol. 22, no. 2, 1941, pp. 147–157. His papers are archived at the University of Delaware.

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 Ethan Allen, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Ulysses S. Grant, John Paul Jones, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, Abraham Lincoln, Israel Putnam, Pontiac, Tecumseh, George Washington, and Anthony Wayne.

In certain periods the Beadle & Adams firm was also known as Irwin P. Beadle & Co. and as Beadle & Company.House of Beadle & Adams Online -- Full Contents, archive.org. Retrieved 26 May 2026.

References

Further reading To Nebraska in 1857: A Diary of E. F. Beadle. California Joe, the Mysterious Plainsman: The Strange Adventures of an Unknown Man, whose real identity, like that of the "Man of the Iron Mask," is still unsolved. Adventures of Buffalo Bill from Boyhood to Manhood. Deeds of Daring, Scenes of Thrilling, Peril, and Romantic Incidents In the Early Life of W. F. Cody, the Monarch of Bordermen.

External links

Over 5,000 digitized dime novels published by Beadle & Adams are available at Nickels & Dimes from Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University Libraries' Beadle and Adams project University of Delaware archive