Dashing Diamond Dick and Other Classic Dime Novels

Book excerpt: A one-of-a-kind compendium of popular fiction from a bygone era Dime novels, as fundamentally American as baseball and jazz, were an inexpensive and inexhaustible source of popular entertainment for millions of Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The five novels in this unique anthology are classic examples of the form, which encompassed Westerns, early science fiction, detective and mystery yarns, and Revolutionary War historicals. From the handsome gambler "Dashing Diamond Dick" and the daring inventor in "Over the Andes with Frank Reade, Jr., in His New Air-Ship" to the mythic baseball player in "Frank Merriwell's Finish," here are some of the most valiant heroes and notorious rogues in the pantheon. Read together, these novels are fascinating time capsules from a young nation in love with its larger-than-life characters. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.