A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1890 — 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 · 1890

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651

1890 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 651 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This installment of William G. Patten's serial "Bound Boy Frank" follows the title character, a sixteen-year-old farm laborer indentured to the tyrannical Farmer Joel Hobbs since childhood. Frank discovers a mysterious letter hidden in a hollow tree warning that "the devil is loose" and has "escaped from his guards." While searching for a stray cow, he secretly observes two men—Hobbs and wealthy Owen Durand—arguing in the barn. Durand demands money from the farmer, threatening to reveal that Hobbs committed a crime for which another man suffered legal consequences. Frank resolves to uncover the truth behind their sinister arrangement and the cryptic letter. The story establishes Frank's detective ambitions alongside the larger mystery of his parentage, hinted at through the account of his mother's death at the poorhouse years earlier.

Browse this issue page by page

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