International Book Trade

As the yellowback became popular in Britain, inexpensive publishing in the form of the dime novel was also rising in the United States. While U.S. copyright law left books by British authors essentially unprotected in the U.S., British law did not make it so easy to reprint foreign-authored works. Still, there was significant cross-over between the dime novel and the yellowback during the nineteenth century.

For example, under the name Beadle’s American Library, the American dime novel publisher, Beadle & Co, operated a London office from 1861-1865, after which time it was run by the British yellowback publisher, George Routledge and Sons. Beadle’s American Library published reprints of dime novels.

Other publishing companies also printed works by U.S. authors. Many examples of yellowbacks written by Americans are present in Emory's collection.