The 1883 Peck’s Bad Boy books were both serialized in newspapers. Here is an example from the Meigs County Telegraph published in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio. In the October 17, 1883 edition, Chapter 26 from Peck’s Bad Boy, No. 2: The Grocery Man and Peck’s Bad Boy was printed in its entirety.

When this book was released in September of 1883 it had 27 chapters.