Erastus Flavel Beadle

Erastus Flavel Beadle (1821-1894) was an American printer and publisher. He was born in upstate New York, the grandson of Benjamin Beadle, a war hero in the American Revolution.

In 1838, Beadle apprenticed with H & E Phoney in Coopertown, New York, where he learned typesetting, stereotyping, engraving, and book-binding. In 1850 he set up a stereotype foundry with his brother and began focussing on publishing magazines. In 1860, the brothers relocated to Brooklyn and started a completely different type of publication: the paper-wrapped dime novels known as pulp fiction. The dime-novels became a huge hit, and in 1889 Beadle retired a millionaire.