#edisonades

The Huge Hunter, or, The Steam Man of the Prairie | Nickels and Dimes | Northern Illinois University Digital Library

This novel by Edward S. Ellis is one of the earliest examples of the Edisonade genre, or stories about boy inventors and adventurers. It’s also one of the earliest novels to feature a mechanical man, likely inspired by the inventions of Zadoc Dederick. Like later examples of the genre, the boy inventor in this story--Johnny Brainerd--uses his mechanical creation to subjugate and terrorize Native Americans. But unlike later examples, this boy inventor is also a dwarf.

Ellis’ novel was very popular, re-issued several times in various series by Beadle and Adams. Editions of this story in Beadle’s American Novels, Beadle’s Half Dime Library, and Beadle’s Pocket Library will be digitized soon as part of the Albert Johannsen project, funded through a Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Tom Edison Jr's Electric Sea Spider, or, The Wizard of the Submarine World | Nickels and Dimes | Northern Illinois University Digital Library

Although there were any number of precursors, like Ellis’s book, the Tom Edison, Jr. novels by Philip Reade are often considered to be the first proper Edisonades. Tom builds a number of miraculous steam-powered weapons and vehicles, which allow him to bring “civilization” (i.e. American culture) to the uncivilized parts of the world. While a fascinating part of the history of science fiction and American culture, readers are warned that these stories are jingoistic and racist. This particular novel, for example, features one of the earliest examples of the Yellow Peril stereotype in fiction, embodied in the Asian villain Kiang Hao.

Frank Reade, the Inventor, Chasing the James Boys with His Steam Team | Nickels and Dimes | Northern Illinois University Digital Library

Frank Reade and his son Frank Reade, Jr. are probably the best known Edisonade characters, appearing in hundreds of stories that spanned several different dime novel and story paper series published by Frank Tousey. This novel is a very early example of a fictional crossover, in which Reade matches wits with the James boys--Jesse and Frank--who starred in quite a few dime novels themselves.

Frank Reade, Jr., and His New Steam Man, or, The Young Inventor's Trip to the Far West | Nickels and Dimes | Northern Illinois University Library

Frank Reade, Jr. has the distinction of being the longest-running Edisonade hero, appearing in 179 adventures. He’s usually joined by his servants, Barney O’Shea and Pomp--stereotypical Irish and African American characters, who spend much of their time squabbling with one another in eye dialect. (Irish and African American characters were frequently paired in dime novels. See, for example, The Mulcahey Twins.) While capable of heroics, both O’Shea and Pomp are often simply used for comedic relief.