Here are a pair of dime novel reprints published by Darren Németh under his Giant Squid Audio Lab and first put out as a Kickstarter campaign, and later made available through Moving Pictures Reprint Series. As I write this he is finishing up another Kickstarter campaign to put out two novelizations of early Lon Chaney movies.
All his reprints are taken from original dime novels. Each page is scanned at high resolution and edited to correct the skew, fix damaged printing plates, and eliminate other press defects. This separates these reprints from those that just reprint straight from the original works — flaws and all — such that sometimes they look like just a step above a photocopy. However, they aren’t like other reprints that reset the type via OCR or the like.
Surprisingly, neither were put out under his Page-Turner Series of dime-novel reprints. No idea why.
So first up is Iron Burgess, The Government Detective by Old Sleuth. As noted in prior posts, Old Sleuth first appeared in The Fireside Companion story paper beginning in 1872 and was the first dime-novel detective. He was the first character to use the word “sleuth” to denote a detective, and was also responsible for the popularity of the use of the word “old,” which would be used in the names of many of the competing detectives that arouse in the dime novels. All the Old Sleuth stories were written by Harlan Page Halsey (1839?-98) under the name “Old Sleuth”, and not just Old Sleuth stories, but a wide range of other detective stories, like the ones here.
Iron Burgess first appeared in Old Sleuth Library #9 in 1885, but was later reprinted in The Calumet Series #16 in 1892 in a much-expanded edition. It’s this later edition that was used for this volume. The story is set in Tennessee 15 years after the Civil War, with the area plagued by moonshiners, counterfeiters, and the like. A near-lawless land, tax collectors and lawmen are often killed by criminal gangs. With this, the federal government sends their toughest agent, Iron Burgess. Can he bring law to a lawless land? For some reason, I was reminded of stories like Walking Tall.
Next is Old Electricity, The Lightning Detective; or Through by Night by Old Sleuth. This one first appeared in Old Sleuth Library #6 in 1885, also later reprinted in The Calumet Series #12 in 1892 in a much-expanded edition. And, yes, it’s from this later edition that this volume came from. Detective Wayne Winthrop is “Old Electricity.” A part of the secret service, he is an expert in disguise, going undercover, and is also a skilled forger. The nation is dealing with a criminal ring that is plundering mail and express trains in Indiana. Can Old Electricity put a stop to them?
Interestingly, while it was hinted there would be further stories with him, the only one found is Old Electricity in New York; or, Wayne Winthrop’s Trail of a ‘Dead Secret”‘ from Old Sleuth Weekly in 1910. This is after Halsey died, so it’s unclear who wrote it.
A bonus in this volume is “Red Cecil, the Detective; or, A Steady Pursuit” by Old Sleuth that appeared in Old Sleuth’s Own #125 in 1898.
Both volumes include introductions, photos of other editions of the works, the original interior artwork, and glossaries of words and phrases.
Now, if you want to obtain copies, I recommend going over to the Moving Pictures Reprint Series website and purchase them. Better, would be to get on future Kickstarter campaigns as this will ensure future works come out, and you get some nice bonus items as well. He usually offers past books as bonus add-ons to the campaigns.
Also look for the reprinting of the Ransom! series from 1933, a rare pulp epic put out in 110 parts originally, and is being reprinted in a series of nine trade paperbacks. Two are out so far. Look for a review of this and other works here in the future. As noted, he wrapped up a recent Kickstarter campaign for 2 novelizations of some Lon Chaney movies, and is working on further campaigns for the coming year.
