Levy Dime Novel Collection
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Creator
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Abstract
The Levy Dime Novel Collection contains mainly late 19th and early 20th Century fiction, in the form of cheap paperback novels and periodicals. Part of the collection is focused on what Levy referred to as "feminine" fiction: works about, authored by, and intended for women.
Biographical Note
Edward G. Levy was born in New Haven, Connecticut on October 21, 1898. In 1939, he began seriously collecting 19th Century literary materials. During this time, he co-founded the Charlton Publishing Corporation, which he later sold in order to catalogue his 150,000 books, manuscripts, and memorabilia. Levy established collections with these materials at over a dozen institutions, including the Fales Library, where he built a significant collection through multiple donations. The New York Public Library, the Beinecke Library at Yale, and the Rappaporte Library at Brandeis also received substantial gifts from Mr. Levy.
Arrangement
The items were processed in the order in which they were boxed for offsite storage, being divided into novels, periodicals, miscellaneous addenda, flats, and oversize materials. Each of these categories is in near alphabetical order according to author's name or, for periodicals, publication name. There is no box #57, #84, #96, #104, #119, #123, or #138.
- Series I: Novels (Box 1-83)
- Series II: Monographic Series (Box 85-91)
- Series III: Periodicals (Box 92-122)
- Series IV: Bound Novels
- Series V: Misc. Addenda
- Series VI: Flat Boxes
- Series VII: Oversize
- Series VIII: Facsimile Reprints
- Series IX: Miscellany
Scope and Contents
The Levy Dime Novel Collection contains a wide range of novels, periodicals, and serials dating from as early as 1780 through 1968. The bulk of the material dates from the 1880's and 90's. One of the areas of focus is on what Levy called "feminine" fiction: works composed by, about, and/or for women. Complete sets of The Merriwell Library by Burt L. Standish, The Pirate Story Series, and The Deadwood Dick Library by Edward L. Wheeler are included in the collection. Among the authors well represented are Miss. M. E. Braddon, Charlotte M. Brame/Bertha M. Clay, Nicholas Carter, The Duchess, Charles Garvice, Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, Old Sleuth, and Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth.
Subjects
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Genres
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restrictions. Appointments are necessary to consult archive and manuscript collections.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection use is subject to all copyright laws. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Director of Fales Library and Special Collections. Please contact fales.library@nyu.edu. or call 212 998 2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The Levy Dime Novel Collection; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Provenance
Edward G. Levy made his first deposit of materials to the Fales Library in December 1964 with the idea of establishing a representative collection of nineteenth-century popular fiction at NYU. Larger shipments followed between May of 1965 and August of 1967. In November of 1969 Mr. Levy formally donated all previous deposits to the Fales Library. He also presented additional items at this time to bring the total number of items up to 8,427. Further gifts arrived in August 1973, November 1974, and September 1975 adding approximately 8,400 items for a total of nearly 17,000 items.
Itemized checklists exist for most of the gifts received by the library, some prepared by Mr. Levy prior to shipment and some by the Fales staff upon receipt. An unknown number of items were integrated into the Fales American and British collections and some items were sent to the circulating collection but no documentation of these transfers exists.
In the mid-1990s the Levy materials were packed into archival folders and boxes for storage and a box-level checklist was created. In 2003-2004 this item-level finding aid was created without further physical reorganization of the materials.
Separated Material
Dale, Alan. A Marriage Below Zero. New York: G. W. Dillingham, 1889. was removed and catalogued in Special Collections and is listed in Bobcat.
About this Guide
Processing Information
On February 2019, materials from accession 2011.028 were placed in new acid-free folders and manuscript boxes, rehoused for offsite storage. Original order of documents maintained from boxes 1-3.
