Dime novels were paper-covered books published in the late 19th century and encompassed a variety of subjects. Early volumes favored light romance and were marketed to adults. By the 1870s and 1880s the novels were produced for youth and their subject matter expanded to include tales of the wild west, mysteries, adventures, inventors and their amazing creations, war, science fiction, and sports.

Utilizing the affordable printing processes of the later 19th century and cheap, low-quality paper, dime novels were published as weekly or monthly serials. The offered convenient and affordable reading to millions of Americans.

The Hess Collection contains both American and British Dime Novels, including examples from nearly all the well-known series. The core of the American collection dates 1860-1915 and the British collection dates 1895-1935. The Hess houses over 65,000 individual dime novels. Several thousand have been microfilmed and there are 13 digital issues available for download. Most of the dime novels are cataloged in MNCAT .