Sweeney Todd: The String of Pearls
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Sweeney Todd: The String of Pearls by James Malcolm Rymer
Fully revised Second Edition. With a new Introduction and Bibliography by Dick Collins. The exploits of Sweeney Todd, ‘The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’, have been recounted many times in plays, films and musicals, but the origins of the character largely were forgotten for many years. The String of Pearls - the original tale of Sweeney Todd, a classic of British horror - was first published as a weekly serial in 1846-7 by Edward Lloyd, the King of the Penny Dreadfuls. One of the earliest detective stories, it became an important source for Bram Stoker's Dracula, but it was after over 150 years of obscurity that it appeared first in book form in the Wordsworth edition published in 2005. The one great mystery that has surrounded the book is who the author was - or was it possibly the work of more than one man? In his new introduction to this fully revised second edition, Dick Collins, by means of detailed research of contemporary records, has established finally the identity of the creator of this legendary figure. So here is the original story of the terrifying owner of that famous London barber-shop, and the secret recipe for Mrs Lovett's delicious pies…
Rymer, James Malcolm: - James Malcolm Rymer (1814-1884) was a British nineteenth century writer of penny dreadfuls and is the co-author with Thomas Peckett Prest of both Varney the Vampire (1847) and The String of Pearls (1847), in which the notorious villain Sweeney Todd makes his literary debut. Information about Rymer is sketchy. He was of Scottish descent, though born in Clerkenwell, London on 1 February 1814. In the London Directory for 1841 he is listed as a civil engineer, living at 42 Burton Street and the British Museum catalogue mentions him in 1842 as editing the Queen's Magazine. Between 1842 to the 1867 he wrote up to 115 popular novels for the English bookseller and publisher, Edward Lloyd, including the best-sellers Ada the Betrayed, Varney the Vampyre and The String of Pearls. Rymer's novels appeared in England under his own name as well as anagrammatic pseudonyms such as Malcolm J. Errym and Malcolm J. Merry.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781840226324 |
| ISBN 10 | 1840226323 |
| Title | Sweeney Todd: The String of Pearls |
| Author | James Malcolm Rymer |
| Series | Tales Of Mystery And The Supernatural |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Wordsworth Editions Ltd |
| Year published | 2010-07-05 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |