A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1881 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 16 pages · 1881

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199

1881 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 199 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This serialized fiction installment, "Featherweight, or On His Muscle, Wits and Honor" by Edward Willett, follows Fred Light, a seventeen-year-old "light weight champion" recently departed from flatboat work on the Ohio River. Upon arriving in Cairo with his German companion Herman Schweitopfel, Fred becomes embroiled in a hotel brawl after a rude clerk and porter attempt to eject him. Fred handily defeats the porter in combat. A well-dressed cotton merchant named Alfred Creswell witnesses this display and approaches Fred afterward with a business proposition: for fifty dollars, Fred must abduct Creswell's orphaned niece Sophie from a store-boat where she is hiding, and deliver her across the river to Missouri. Creswell claims Sophie has run away due to an unsuitable suitor. Fred, skeptical of the easy payment, agrees to investigate before committing to the scheme. The narrative emphasizes Fred's physical prowess, independence, and moral character, establishing the boy as protagonist in what appears an adventure-kidnapping plot.

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Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.