SOURCE: “Ballou, the Father of the Dime Novel,” in The American Book Collector, September-October, 1933, pp. 121-29.

In the essay below, Admari provides an overview of publisher, writer, and editor Maturin Murray Ballou's career and his contribution to American literature and periodicals in the nineteenth century.

In the years to come when the popular literature of the United States shall have been thoroughly explored many disputes will arise as to whom should go the credit for having brought about the dime novel. As early as 1872, Frederic Hudson in his remarkable history of Journalism stated that Park Benjamin, who was responsible for the first sensational weekly or story paper (1839) and the first cheap book (12[frac12]¢) paper binding same year, was the father of cheap literature. This was more than five years before the dime novel became an important function in the cultural advance of the masses. The Englishman, Bracebridge Hemyng...