Ragged Dick Series (Illustrated)

This is the complete and unabrigded six-volume Ragged Dick Series. Most of the books were first serialized in young people's magazines, then expanded and published as full-lengt novels. Ragged Dick (later Richard Hunter) is the first volume, and became Alger's best-selling work. He plays a central role in the first three novels. These are fascinating looks at what life was like for young people who were largely on their own during the latter part of the 19th century.

#1: RAGGED DICK: Ragged Dick is a homeless fourteen-year-old bootblack, known to be an honest young man. He is generous and industrious, but he is a spendthrift. He is a good-looking boy that appears aristocratic with a frank and open face. Dick must handle con artists, bullies, false accusations of theft, and, most of all, overcoming his inability to read and write. Of particular interest are the descriptions of life on the streets of late 19-century New York City.

#2: FAME AND FORTUNE: This is the second volume in Alger's "Ragged Dick Series." Ragged Dick is now known as Richard Hunter, and he and his friend Henry Fosdick move into a new, slightly more expensive boarding house. After securing their room and moving their belongings from their old dwelling, Richard runs into Frank Whitney. Frank re-introduces Richard to his uncle, who is quite pleased to see his progress: "In this free country there is every inducement for effort, however unpromising may be the early circumstances in which one is placed."

#3: MARK THE MATCH BOY: Mark the Match Boy is the third volume in Alger's "Ragged Dick Series." Between the first and third volume, Richard Hunter, or "Ragged Dick" as he was known, has found a good job and gained some education. Eventually he and a friend help a boy named Mark, who tried to earn a living selling small boxes of matches. Mark becomes Richard's ward. While this is happening, they are trying to locate the grandson of a wealthy man named Hiram Bates. It turns out that Mark is the missing grandson.

#4: ROUGH AND READY: Book #4 in the Ragged Dick series, and another exciting story. Rufus (or "Rough & Ready" as his street name), an entrepreneurial newsboy, escapes with his younger sister from an abusive, drunken step-father, and vows to set up a better life for them even though this step-father does not let it happen so easily. Exciting stuff, and as always, great lessons learned, both morally and fiscally.

#5: BEN, THE LUGGAGE BOY: In publishing "Ben, the Luggage Boy," Alger said that it is in all essential points a true history, the particulars of the story having been communicated to him by Ben himself. In particular, the circumstances surrounding the boy's running away from home and adopting the life of a street boy, are in strict accordance with Ben's own statement.

#6: RUFUS AND ROSE: This is last of six books in the Ragged Dick series Alger wrote about the life of struggling boys in New York City, a place that had to be pretty scary at the end of the 19th century. "Newsboys," sold newspapers one at a time on the streets, and "boot blacks" shined the shoes of those men they considered wealthy and concerned enough about how they looked. The story opens with Rufus, who has twice stolen his young and vulnerable sister, Rose, from a mean step-father, starting a new job on Wall Street, having been fortunate to have found $300, which had never been claimed.

Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age.