Mrs. Fenton., Seaside Library Pocket Edition
New York: Geo. Munro Publisher, 17 to 27 Vanderwater St. Dec. 17, 1889. Wraps. [DIME NOVEL / PULP] [FICTION]. 12mo (7 3/16 x 4 7/8”); [2]pp ads for the “New York Fashion Bazar” magazine precedes the text, 144pp + [16]pp publisher’s ads, including [4]pp for Die Deutshe Library in German, as well as ads for personal hygiene and health products; color pictorial wrapper mimicking an alligator case with buckles, and a faux seascape postcard on the front, rear wrapper pictures the Eiffel Tower and an ad for “Gold Medal Paris 1889 Colgate’s Perfumes and Soaps”; staple binding; chipping at spine with loss, rubbing to wrappers, light age-toning of paper; very good. OCLC locates only one copy with this publishing date at Ohio State University, a later edition is housed at New Mexico State University. Very good. Item #1816
George Munro (1825-1896) was a Canadian publisher who found success in publishing several series of inexpensive stories. The most successful were the paperback novels known as the “Seaside Library Pocket Edition.” The banner on the front wrapper reads “Seaside Library, Pocket Edition. Issued Tri-Weekly by Subscription $50 Per Annum. Patented June 7th, 1887. Entered at the Post Office at New York at Second Class Rates. Copyright by Geo. Munro 1887.” This series was not really a “dime novel” or “pulp fiction” publication because Munro relied on the work of known British authors to pirate and reprint. This novel was by William Norris (1847-1925), who was a prolific British novelist and writer.
The ads for other Munro imprints in this volume promote The New York Fashion Bazar, The Best Ladies” Magazine, the Die Deutsche Library, Hunters’ Yarns, Munro’s Star Recitations, The Autobiography of a Barrel of Bourbon, Munro’s Dialogues and Speakers, the Old Sleuth Library, the Library of American Authors, and other single title reprints.
Price: $225.00