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…
18th century… Last Dying Speeches, Trials, and Executions: The Changing Format and Function of Crime Broadsides, c.1800 – c.1840 11 Sep 2016 A paper delivered at Pernicious Trash? Victorian Popular Fiction, c.1830-c.1880, Leeds Trinity University 12 September 2016. Abstract: Crime broadsides are usually assumed to be unchanging and static. Yet this paper…
19th Century… Pierce Egan the Younger (1814-1880): Biography of a Penny Dreadful Author 6 Aug 20166 Aug 2016 Pierce Egan the Younger (1814-1880) was one of the most popular penny dreadful authors in the Victorian period, perhaps second only to G. W. M. Reynolds. Egan’s immense popularity is…
19th Century… The Chartist Robin Hood: Thomas Miller’s “Royston Gower, or, The Days of King John” (1838) 4 Aug 20164 Aug 2016 The early nineteenth century witnessed two phenomenally successful Robin Hood novels: Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (1819) and Thomas Love Peacock’s Maid Marian (1822). After those two novels, authors took a break…
19th Century… The ‘Public School’ Robin Hood: Imperial Ideology in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Children’s Books 8 Jul 20168 Jul 2016 A paper delivered at a conference entitled: 'Packaging the Past for Children, c.1750-1914' at the Senate House, Durham University, 6 – 7 July 2016 Abstract During the late-Victorian and Edwardian…