Aldine romance of invention, travel and adventure library

The Aldine Romance of Invention, Travel and Adventure Library was a popular pulp magazine series published between 1894 and 1906. Most of the Aldine stories feature the adventures of Frank Reade Jr., replete with amazing inventions and fantastic voyages. Targeted to boys, the early issues boast: “Jules Verne outdone!!!” Later issues of the Aldine series sporadically featured Jack Wright, another pulp hero created by Senarens, as seen in “Jack Wright’s Electric Sea Ghost, or, A Strange Underwater Journey,”

The character of Frank Reade was created by Harold Cohen and introduced in “Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains, or, The Terror of the West” in New York Magazine (1876). Reade was always accompanied by his steam man, which was itself borrowed from an earlier publication, “The Iron Hunter, or, The Steam Man of the Plains!” Cohen wrote four issues before handing over to Luis Senarens, a sixteen year old Cuban-American living in Brooklyn. Senarens introduced Frank Reade Jr. in what became the first issue of the Aldine series: “Frank Reade Jr. and His New Steam Man, or, The Young Inventor’s Trip to the Far West” (1892). Most of these stories were first published in general pulp magazines, such as The Boys of New York, and were also serialised in The Frank Reade Library.

The Frank Reade Jr. stories feature a huge variety of fantastic machines and mechanical creatures, from airships and underwater vessels, to the “Steam Horse” and the “Electric Dolphin.” Over the course of the series, Frank Reade Jr. travels the world, even visiting Australia in several issues, including “Frank Reade’s Electric Man in Australia” and “Across Australia with Frank Reade.” The stories are products of their time, however, and some characters can now be recognised as racist stereotypes, while Reade’s global adventures have colonial overtones. Yet the Reade stories were very influential, pioneering what John Clute calls the “Edisonade” genre (after the inventor Thomas Edison) and being forerunners for other popular science fiction writing.

Read more about this collection on our Library Blog.