Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: dime novels
NIU Fundraiser to Digitize Important Nickel Library Series
Northern Illinois University is holding a fundraiser to digitize the key historical fiction periodical series Nickel Library.
Article Summary
- Northern Illinois University is raising funds to digitize Nickel Library, the pioneering 922-issue five-cent fiction series.
- Nickel Library helped shift dime novel publishing toward juvenile readers and set the stage for pulps and comic books.
- Pictorial Printing Company emerged from post-fire Chicago printing roots and launched Nickel Library in the late 1870s.
- Nickel Library preserves scarce early work by Luis Senarens and remains crucial to periodical fiction history research.
Nickel Library was a 922-issue series that ran from 1877 to 1893. As Northern Illinois University notes, “The Nickel Library was the first five cent dime novel series published in the United States. Following its success, nickel weeklies went on to dominate newsstands across the country from the 1880s into the 1910s, shifting the audience for dime novels away from adults and toward juveniles.” Of course, developing newsstand sales for fiction would also help set the stage for the pulps and comic books of subsequent eras. NIU has one of the best digital archives of dime novels (and story papers, nickel weeklies, and similar pre-World War I material) in the world, and what they’re doing in this area is incredibly important to our understanding of the origins and development of periodical fiction publishing in the United States. They are holding a fundraiserthat ends at midnight tonight (October 29, 2026) to raise money to scan their Nickel Library holdings. As they note, “The earliest issues are almost impossible to find because they had such small print runs, with Johannsen speculating that many may no longer exist. NIU acquired Johannsen’s own collection in 1967, and now holds more issues of this scarce series than any other library.”
Pictorial Printing Company and the Origins of Nickel Library
That rarity goes along with something I’ve noted as a collector of such material, as well as in my research on Chicago-based publishers such as The Daily Story Publishing Company and figures such as Louis Eckstein and Patrick H. Grimes. The Chicago publishers of this era are vastly under-researched compared to their New York City contemporaries, and their representation in institutional holdings tends to lag behind that of historical Eastern U.S. publishers as well.
The publisher behind Nickel Library, the Pictorial Printing Company, has its roots in an advertising printing business destroyed in the 1871 Chicago fire, which was later relocated and rebuilt into a substantial publishing, advertising, and commercial printing business. The earliest incarnation of this company appeared in 1870 as the Western Pictorial Advertising Co., located at 86 Dearborn Street, offering “comic and fancy poster cuts” for Chicago-area businesses. Related biographical material suggests this was started by John McGreer in partnership with Albert Sibley (at the beginning or soon after). By the next year, the company had expanded at that location and was offering businesses what appears to be a syndicated newspaper offering that combined cuts with reading matter tailored to the business and its area. An account of the McGreer family and contemporary newspaper notices agree that this location was destroyed in the 1871 Chicago fire and was revived that November at 13 North Jefferson Street as the Pictorial Advertising Company. The company’s advertising newspaper offering was named the Pictorial Advertiser by this time. Sibley and McGreer then moved the business to 5, 7 & 9 Michigan Avenue and renamed it Pictorial Printing Company by 1873.
Pictorial Printing Company ventured into literary-focused periodicals in December 1875 with In-Door and Out, a 16-page, 15-cent monthly that had been started in Indianapolis early that year by George E. Blakelee. According to historian Ross Craufurd, Blakely joined Pictorial as secretary and treasurer in 1875. The company’s ownership over time is a matter of conflicting sources at present. Craufurd suggests that George P. Bassett and a partner bought the company in 1881, while a 1905 biography places his involvement there beginning in 1874. Likewise, there’s some disagreement on exactly when Nickel Library was launched. While many reports maintain a June 20, 1877 date as the beginning of the series, a contemporary subscription agent notice makes mention of the series on April 19, 1877. Further, advertising in that year clarifies that the series was on a three-issues-per-month schedule by issue no. 8.
Such historical ambiguities serve to underline why efforts such as NIU’s digitization of Nickel Library are so important. Getting original material such as this digitized and making it available to the public is vital to improving our understanding of the history of periodical fiction publishing in America. As NIU also notes, this series contains early work by Luis Senarens, one of the most important science fiction authors in American history and best remembered for his Frank Reade stories. The success of Nickel Library soon led to important 5-cent periodical series, including Beadle’s Half-Dime Library and Frank Tousey‘s Wide Awake Library, and ultimately to series such as Frank Reade Library (the first science fiction-focused periodical in American history), Nick Carter Library, and countless others.
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