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~ Kent’s New Commentary: A Manual for Young Men, by C.H. Kent, 1880
Seems legit.
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Call for Papers: Pernicious Trash? Victorian Popular Fiction, 1830-1880
12 September 2016
Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, Leeds Trinity University
There is now before us such a veritable mountain of pernicious trash, mostly in paper covers, and “Price One Penny”; so-called novelettes, tales, stories of adventure, mystery and crime; pictures of school life hideously unlike reality; exploits of robbers, cut-throats, prostitutes, and rogues, that, but for its actual presence, it would seem incredible. [1]
When people think of Victorian literature, authors such as Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, the Bronte sisters, Thomas Hardy, and Oscar Wilde spring to mind. Yet alongside these authors there existed a multitude of more ‘popular’ authors such as G. W. M. Reynolds, Pierce Egan the Younger, Henry Downes Miles, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and Ellen Wood. Furthermore, numerous anonymous writers week after week churned out popular pieces of mass-market fiction for readers’ enjoyment. In view of this, the interdisciplinary ‘Pernicious Trash’ conference seeks proposals for 20 minute papers which examine the ‘cheaper’ side of literature during the long nineteenth century (‘virtuous trash’ such as religious/moralist magazines are also welcome). Such topics might include:
- The penny press: (e.g. The Penny Magazine, penny dreadfuls) - Chartist periodicals - The Newgate Novel - Serialised sensation fiction and illustration - Plagiarisms of famous works (e.g. G. W. M. Reynolds’ Pickwick Abroad). - Broadsides, chapbooks. - Women’s periodicals (e.g. The Lady’s Magazine). - Literary periodicals (e.g. Strand). - Satirical periodicals (e.g. Punch)
If you are interested in giving a paper please submit an abstract of 250 words with a brief biography to [email protected] by 30 April 2016. We also welcome panel proposals. If you wish to propose a panel, please send abstracts for three linked papers, and brief biographies of panellists.
Keynote speakers is Dr. Katherine Mullin from University of Leeds
Dependent on funding, we hope to offer the event free, otherwise a charge to delegates of £10-£15 will be added to cover expenses. For more information see our website: http://pernicioustrash.tumblr.com/ or email [email protected]
[1] Anon cited in Charles Ferrall & Anna Jackson, Juvenile Literature and British Society: The Age of Adolescence, 1850-1950 (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 12.
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Sea serpent dime novel, Wide Awake Library No. 1334, August 27, 1897, Young Jack Harkaway Fighting the Pirates of the Red Sea by Bracebridge Hemyng. The author created the character for Boys of England in 1871. The sea monster is real, and in the story a man overdoes on morphine.
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Mountain climbing dime novel, Pluck and Luck No. 430, August 29, 1906, Tom Porter’s Search; or, The Treasure of the Mountains by Richard R. Montgomery (house name).
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Airship dime novel, The Boys’ Star Library No. 322, November 4,1893, Jack Wright and His Flying Torpedo; or, The Black Demons of Dismal Swamp by “Noname” (Luis Senarens).
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How’s this for holiday cheer? A secret society featuring duels by members wearing tiger costumes.
Montgomery, Richard R. (1907) The seven tigers of the mountains, or, All for love and glory. New York: Frank Tousey.
From the Dime Novel Collection, University of South Florida.
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L'Oeil de la police (1909)
Source: bnf.fr
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Nick Carter
Before Doc Savage and the Shadow the go to superhero of Street & Smith was Nick Carter “the little giant”, master of disguise with the skill, knowledge and strength of any three other men.
Superstar of the Penny Dreadful / Dime Novels (though they really cost a nickel) for years, he also had a Pulp magazine and was a backup strip in The Shadow Comics, ending with a string of paperback originals in the 60s… when does he get a Story Blob?
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Mr. Midnight
They weren’t comics, but there probably wouldn’t have been comic books without them.
Early version of a supervillain from 1908.
Secret Service Old and Young King Brady, Detectives (No. 488 May 29, 1908)
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The Brothers Faversham is a great show and full of delightful spoof Victoriana with occasional moments of poignancy … but the ‘advertisements’ were just hilarious.
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Jack Harkaway Among the Brigands. June, 1875.
15 cents! What do they think we are made of money?
"Take that you Fiend!"
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Frank Reade Jr
A small collection of the fantastic work of pulp hero Frank Reade Jr. See more below.
Frank Reade was the protagonist of a series of dime novels published primarily for boys. The first novel, Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains, an imitation of Edward Ellis’s "The Steam Man of the Prairies" (1868), was written by Harry Enton and serialized in the Frank Touseyjuvenile magazine Boys of New York, February 28 through April 24, 1876. The four Frank Reade stories concerned adventures with the character’s inventions, various robot-like mechanisms powered by steam.
A very long series of juvenile novels followed which featured the son of Frank Reade, Frank Reade Jr., as its teenaged inventor-hero. These stories were written by Luis P. Senarens (1865–1939) with the pseudonym “Noname". Extremely popular during their time, they were often reprinted and new stories have been created as recently as 2011, in the pulp short story collection, Wildthyme in Purple.
Frank Reade Jr. inventions included airships of the dirigible-balloon and helicopter type submersibles, steam-driven and electrical land vehicles, and steam-powered robots.
The Frank Reade stories are perhaps the best known of the many boys’ invention fiction series published in America during the later 19th century.(Wikipedia)
Source: io9.com
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Tanks had their most famous early science fiction outing in Well’s “The Land Ironclads” (1903). So it is fitting that a report on the first tanks not only refers back to sci-fi but some of the first appearances of tank-like vehicles dating back to 1892 (like the one above from the very first story featuring Frank Reade jr.), as discussed by Jess Nevins:
From the North-China Herald, 18 November 1916, in which the author is describing the debut of the tank during World War One:
The land-ship—it heaves and rolls like a ship—sailed on into the village and made the way easy—or at any rate much easier for an assault with the bayonet. You may judge of its weight and power from the fact that it “charged” and brought to ruin a house loop-holed and occupied by the enemy. It sounds rather like “Frank Reade’s” famous invention—a great steel car speeding across the wildest west demolishing cities and brushing away tribes of Indians like so many flies.
The “Frank Reade” referred to here is the Edisonade Frank Reade, Jr., who used a armored “landrover” in the story in question.
What’s most of interest to me here is the article writer’s use of a fictional sf creation to describe an actual piece of technology.
Frank Reade Jr.’s “landrover” was a theme he’d return to a number of times, becoming more tank-like (this, from “Frank Reade, Jr., With His New Steam Man in Texas: or, Chasing the Trainrobbers,”, also dates to 1892):
His “Electric Van” from “Frank Reade, Jr.’s new electric van, or, Hunting wild animals in the jungles of India” (1893), seems like a development of this and a very practical tiger hunting platform:
Source: ratmmjess.livejournal.com
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Spring-heeled Jack. The world of the British penny-dreadfuls is not a familiar stomping grounds, but I couldn’t help but stumble upon finding this in a stack of dime novels in my office. Sure enough, there is Batman’s English ancestor circa 1904.
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Yesterday we launched dimenovels.org, the Edward T. LeBlanc Memorial Dime Novel Bibliography. This project aims to create a comprehensive online database of dime novels, story papers, reprint libraries and related materials.
The image is from the cover of How to Solve Conundrums (1900). Check out our Dime Novel and Popular Literature Collection for more!
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The Boy's Own Paper, front page, 11 April 1891