Frank Starr's New York Library
The New York Library

THE NEW QUARTO FORM in which the Fireside Library appeared on April 10, 1877, was much cheaper to produce than the colored-cover booklets which had been the rule up to that time, and this, apparently, induced Beadle to try it out on the novels of Western life. On May 8, 1877, Frank Starr's American Novels had ended with No. 221. Two days later the first number of Frank Starr's New York Library appeared. This was a large quarto, the largest of any of the Beadle broad-leaves except the Fireside Library. It was 12 7/8 by 9 inches when untrimmed, and usually contained 32 pages, rarely more or less. It had no wrappers, but the first page carried the title of the series and a large woodcut illustration (Fig. 61). The text was printed in three columns of rather small type, the size varying, at first, with the length of the story, which usually ran to 60,000 or 75,000 words. Perhaps this form of publication of Western stories was an experiment which Beadle did not wish to claim until it had been tried out, for the publishers were given as Frank Starr & Co. Their address was 41 Platt Street, which actually was the side entrance to the house of Beadle at 98 William Street and just around the corner.

The first number stated that Starts New York Library was "published every two weeks," and it so appeared for three numbers. In No. 2, however, it was announced to appear on the "5th and 20th of every month." No. 3 actually appeared on June 7, but No. 4 appeared on June 20. In the latter issue a new announcement was made that the "library" was to be published on the "10th and 25th of every month," and No. 5 appeared on July 10 and No. 6 on July 25. No. 7 appeared one day early, on Thursday, August 9, and thereafter the interval was seven days to No. 19, November 1, 1877, and two weeks to the last of the series on February 7, 1878, when No. 26 appeared.

Some time during August, 1878, with No. 8, the name Frank Starr was dropped from the title and it became simply The New York Library (Fig. 62), although the publishers' name was unchanged. On No. 27, Beadle and Adams were given as publishers, and the title was altered to Beadle's New York Dime Library. With this change the firm name, Frank Starr & Co., dropped out of existence.

Fig 61. Frank Starr's New York Library.
Twenty-six numbers were issued, 1877 to 1878.

Fig 62. The New York Library
This was a new heading, substituted for the one shown in Fig. 61, and used
on Nos. 8 to 26 inclusive.

 

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