19th Century… Thomas Miller’s “The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life” (1849) 14 Dec 201616 Dec 2016 Thomas Miller’s The Mysteries of London; or, The Lights and Shadows of London Life (1849) is a continuation of G. W. M. Reynolds’ eponymous penny blood serialised novel published between…
19th Century… Pernicious Trash? “The Prince of Archers, or, The Boyhood Days of Robin Hood”(1883) 16 Oct 2016 There is now before us such a veritable mountain of pernicious trash, mostly in paper covers, and “Price One Penny”; so-called novelettes, tales, stories of adventure, mystery and crime; pictures…
11th Century… Radical Robin Hood: “Little John and Will Scarlet” (1865) 14 Oct 2016 Introduction With the exception of Pierce Egan the Younger’s Robin Hood and Little John, or, The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest (1838-40), Robin Hood penny dreadfuls have generated very little…
15th Century… Maid Marian in Victorian Penny Dreadfuls: A Proto-Feminist? 20 May 201621 May 2016 A paper read at the Women in Print Conference, Chetham's Library, Manchester 20 May 2016 Header image scanned from my personal copy of J. H. Stocqueler's Maid Marian the Forest…
17th century… The Newgate Calendar 24 Mar 201624 Mar 2016 People in the eighteenth century believed that they were living in a crime-ridden society. In addition to Capt. Alexander Smith’s and Capt. Charles Johnson’s criminal biographies, the Proceedings of the…
18th century… Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe” (1819) 27 Feb 201627 Feb 2016 Introduction Walter Scott is perhaps the most famous Scottish novelist. Born in Edinburgh in 1771, after completing his studies he was articled to the legal profession through a friend of…
