Peter Haining - The Penny Dreadful

[dem bones]

Peter Haining -The Penny Dreadful or, Strange, Horrid And Sensational Tales! (Victor Gollancz, Jan. 1975, 1976)

Introduction - Peter Haining
Anon - The Monster Of Scotland (from "The Terrific Register")
Anon - The Dead Alive ("The Calendar Of Horrors")
Anon - The Robbery Of The Astrologer ("The Life Of Dick Turpin")
Pierce Egan jnr. - The Ambush Of Death ("Robin Hood")
Renton Nicholson - The Actor's Tale ("Dombey And Daughter")
G. W. M. Reynolds - The Body-Snatchers ("Mysteries Of London")
Thomas Peckett Prest - The Last Batch Of Pies ("Sweeney Todd")
James Malcolm Rymer - The Resuscitation Of A Vampyre ("Varney The Vampyre")
Percy B. St. John - Buried Alive! ("Jessie, The Mormon's Daughter")
Hannah Maria Jones - The Life Of A Murderer ("The Shipwrecked Stranger")
Thomas Frost - The Abduction ("Paul The Poacher")
James Lindridge - The Episode Of The Knights Of The Round Table ("The Merry Wives Of London")
Paul de Kock - Sister Anne
Eugene Sue - The Raft Of Death
Ned Buntine - The Mad Wolf
J. H. Ingraham - The League Of 'The Thirty'
Anon - Confessions Of A Deformed Lunatic ("The People's Periodical")
Anon - The Rosicrucian ("Reynolds Miscellany")
Anon - Stanfield Hall ("London Journal")
Anon - "Jack Rushton: or, Alone In The Pirates' Lair ("Boys Of England")
Anon - Caractacus, Champion Of The Arena ("The Arena Of Blood")
G. A. Sala - The Vault Of Death ("Guy Fawkes")
Bracebridge Hemyng - Jack Harkaway ("The Road To Adventure")
Appendices:
James Greenwood - "Penny Packets Of Poison"
" Horrible Murder And Human Pie-Makers"
George Reynolds - To My Readers
Bibliography

Anon - The Monster Of Scotland: Sawney Beane and his clan snatch innocent travellers, drag them back to their cave then pickle and eat them. "In the conflict the poor woman fell from behind him, and was instantly butchered before her husband's face, for the female cannibals cut her throat, and fell to sucking her blood with as great a gust, as if it had been wine". This exciting and incredibly gory history is usually credited to Captain Charles Johnson, although it probably wasn't new when he included it in his General History Of The Most Famous Highwaymen, etc. (1734). It's even been suggested that 'Johnson' was Daniel Defoe.

Pierce Egan, jnr. - The Ambush Of Death: Robin Hood duels with Sir Guy of Gisborne and lops his head off. Donning his victim's cape, he seeks out the Baron who has taken Little John captive. Masquerading as Gisborne, he asks as his reward that John be set free so that he can defeat him in hand to hand combat. "He threw the gashed head of Sir Guy into the Baron's arms, who as instantly threw it among his men with a roar of horror, as if it had been a ball of red hot iron. None of them were more eager than the lord to retain possession of it and it fell to the ground to be kicked from one to the other." Will Scarlet and the band arrive, and Robin and his Merry Men send the Baron on his way with an arrow in his arse!

Anon - The Dead Alive or, The Mendicant Robber Of Orleans: Short but brutal. A robber is broken on the wheel, a process that involves his being bound and clubbed until every bone is broken. When the executioner declares him dead, he's handed over to the surgeon for dissection, but hardly has that worthy raised his scalpel than he revives! With the aid of a 'proper cordial', the robber is soon his old self again, albeit minus the odd limb. He bids his caring doctors a cheery farewell and takes up a new career as a beggar. Despite his relative prosperity, he soon lets his greed get the better of him again. Oh dear.

Anon - The Robbery Of The Astrologer: Decidedly minor piece. Dick Turpin and his men rob an Astrologer at Little Britain - you'd think the old fool would have seen it coming but he and his accomplice are frauds so heroic Dick is doing society a favour by separating him from their ill-gotten. The encounter ends in a flurry of imaginative verbal abuse before the Turpin gang ride off home to sunny Aldgate. Brief cameo by Thomas Tankard of The Jonas & Whale warrants an honorary mention on the 'Worlds Worst Landlord' thread.

George Augustus Sala - The Vault Of Death:

"To the rack with him!" yelled the indignant noble in a voice of fury.
Quick as the words were uttered Guy Fawkes was seized.
He made a desperate resistance but all was in vain.
His foes were too many for him. He was forcibly dragged to the rack and bound firmly hand and foot upon it.
"Proceed with the torture!" cried the noble, passionately.
The grim executioners immediately thrust their iron-tipped levers into the rollers of the rack and gave them a turn.
Another moment and Guy Fawkes's limbs would have been torn from their sockets.
At this critical juncture, however, a wild scream rang out loudly in the vaulted cell, and the frenzied face of a girl appeared, though unseen, at the grated window.

And so on. Guy is eventually freed by Evelyn the dancing girl and her rude companions and ferried off down the Thames, presumably to be reunited with true love Violet at a later date.

James Malcolm Rymer - The Resuscitation Of A Vampire: Varney and his mates preside over the resurrection of Mr. Brooks the moneylender on Hampstead Heath. Brooks staggers off, wringing his hands, moaning into the night, and bowling over a watchman who can't step out of his way fast enough.. Rymer spices this remarkable chapter with some scathing social comment

"Kind Mr. Brooks. He only took one hundred percent. Why should he be a vampire? Bless him! Too severe, really!
There were people who called him a bloodsucker while he lived, and now he was one practically, and yet he had his own pew at church, and subscribed a whole guinea a year to a hospital - he did, although people did say it was in order that he might pack off any of his servants at once in case of illness. But then the world is so censorious."

Ned Buntine - The Mad Wolf: October 1883. The narrator and his three companions are returning from a successful trapping adventure through injun territory when they're attacked by a rabid wolf. One by one they're overcome by insanity. Alexandre, complaining of illness, is the first to succumb and sets fire to the tent. The other men stake him out and he expires raving in the night. Worthington wanders off leaving just our man and Verboncoer, both of whom are terrified as they've seen the lunacy in the others eyes. It's the Frenchman who snaps first and begs his colleague to blow his brains out. He eventually manages to do it himself. The last man standing staggers on until he reaches a trading post. He puts his survival down to "free use of liquor and salt."

Anon - Confessions Of A Deformed Lunatic: The narrator is unwittingly responsible for the death of a child in his care when he plays a silly prank on him. The boys mother is the only person who has ever been kind to the misshapen one and the tragedy drives her insane. She lives out her days in the same Asylum as the "murderer." Overwrought, as you'd imagine but somehow fails to live up to its glorious title.

G. W. M. Reynolds - The Bodysnatchers: A great thing about the Penny Dreadfuls is that often the chapters are self-contained stories in themselves, and such is the case here. For The Bodysnatchers, Reynolds adopts a documentary approach to his subject-matter. Loosely based on the exploits of the Bethnal Green Gang, the author introduces us to the ghastly crew - The Resurrection Man, The Cranksman and the Buffer - as they set out to meet their client, the surgeon, at the gates of Shoreditch Church. He shows them the grave of a young woman and they set to work with an efficiency born of vast experience.

[dem bones]

Anon - The Dead Alive: A highwayman of Orleans is broken on the wheel and his corpse handed over to a surgeon for use in the lecture hall. When the supposedly dead man revives, the surgeon does what he can for his shattered body, amputates his legs and an arm, sets him loose to beg. Falling in with a trio of like-minded rogues, it is not long before what's left of the highwayman is up to his old tricks, adding murder, robbery and the abduction of young women for "purposes of lust" to his catalogue of crimes. When he's apprehended for a second time, there can only be one outcome. The Newgate Calendar is a model of restraint in comparison.

James Lindridge - The Episode Of The Knights Of The Round Table: Ironic that the sample 'salacious' title is such a painfully dull read. Captain Morgan is proposed as a member of the licentious Knights' Order and invited to attend the next meeting in Covent Garden. Their theme song is pretty good - "Eat, drink and love - the rest's not worth a straw" - but if he is anticipating a swingers club, he'll be sorely disappointed.

Paul de Kock - Sister Anne: This, on the other hand, is quite magnificent. Nobody - with the possible exception of the Shangri-La's circa You Can Never Go Home Anymore - does overwrought melodrama like a Victorian, and if this extract doesn't reduce you to a quivering jelly, then you've no soul is all i can say. A love affair between mute peasant girl Anne and Frederick, son of the Count de Montreville, results in an illegitimate child. At time of birth, Frederick has already married the saintly Constance. Anne and infant arrive at their country farmhouse, and Constance, who guesses the truth, insists they be given the pavilion to live in as her guest. It makes for a miserable atmosphere, with both wife and mistress teetering on the brink of suicide. Eventually, the kindly old Count realises this can't go on, makes over one of his properties to Anne and her child with orders that his servants afford them the utmost respect. Obviously, this would make for an unsatisfying ending, so on the eve of Anne's departure, why not have the pavilion go up in flames while her infant sleeps in his cot? Scream, Anne, Scream! Oh, I forgot. You can't.

[dem bones]

Eugene Sue - The Raft Of Death: As the tempest rages, thirty terrified survivors of the stricken Salamandre cling to their makeshift raft for dear life. They are in a bad way.

"... it was a troop of ghastly and miserable objects! It was a number of beings without names discoloured, cadaverous, their garments wet through and through, their long hair hanging over their shoulders, their eyes wild and glaring, their bleeding and cracked lips wreathed in hideous and mocking smiles"

Unable to salvage much by way of provisions, come day five of their ordeal, the sailors mutiny. Father turns on son: the fair Alice betrays her lover for a morsel of meat and goes mad; a luckless gumster is set upon and eaten. But wait, what's that on the horizon? A sail! Those few who've not been murdered or thrown themselves into the sea, snap from their madness and join hands in prayer. The all merciful one has delivered them from hell on earth!

What could possibly go right?

James Greenwood - Penny Packets Of Poison (A Short Way To Newgate) : (from The Wilds of London, Chatto & Windus, 1874). For all the wrong reasons, this scaremongering essay is still probably the finest introduction to the weird and wonderful world of the 'dreadfuls. As with the 'Video Nasty' scare a hundred-plus years later, you suspect that, far from driving children - and their parents - away from the scandalous material in question, colourful condemnations like Greenwood's serve only to make them desperate to get their hands on the filth.

penny packets of poison.pdf (104.58 KB)

[dem bones]

Renton Nicholson - The Actor's Tale : (Dombey And Daughter, 1847). Autumn, 1835. Destitute and starving on the mean streets of Plymouth, the actor is offered shelter and drink by kindly owner of a lodging house-stroke-smuggler's den. The cut-throats and footpads quickly take to their guest as it is his quick thinking saves the day when the excise men pay a call. Narrative also incorporates the sad history of 'Crazy Kate', chanteuse of the ragged, who lost her lover to the cruel seas. When, next morning, the actor awakens from a drunken slumber, he is a gold sovereign the richer and the lodging house is no longer to be found.

Hannah Maria Jones - The Life Of A Murderer: (The Shipwrecked Stranger, 1848). High melodrama death cell confession of a man who, having endured his share of life's hardships, including transportation to Van Diemen's Land (aka Tasmania), returned home to England to take bloody revenge on the rich scoundrel who ruined his life, perjured his late son, and cost him a loving wife (perished through starvation). "And to the drunkard speak - thousands beside myself have been untimely hurried into eternity by its instrumentality; tell them it is the high road to ruin, misery, crime and death."

Horrible Murder and Human Pie Maker: (The Tell Tale, 1825). Rue-de-la-Harpe, Paris. A faithful dog refuses to budge from doorway of a barber shop until he has alerted a huge crowd to search the premises for his missing master. "The remainder of the story is almost too horrible for human ears," so we will merely mention that the man has had his throat slit ear to ear, and the pastry shop next door is renowned across the city for its "savoury patties." Obvious precursor of the 'true' story of Sweeney Todd.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jun 16, 2021 5:19:38 GMT dem bones said:

Renton Nicholson - The Actor's Tale : (Dombey And Daughter, 1847). Autumn, 1835. Destitute and starving on the mean streets of Plymouth, the actor is offered shelter and drink by kindly owner of a lodging house-stroke-smuggler's den. The cut-throats and footpads quickly take to their guest as it is his quick thinking saves the day 

This looks very interesting.
I hadn't heard of Dombey and Daughter. The author is certainly a character. Perfect material for the Vault I feel. I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to look him up properly yet, so used the dread unmentionable W. 
Quote:


Renton Nicholson (4 April 1809 – 18 May 1861) was an English impresario, businessman, actor, and writer. He is best known for his Judge and Jury Society performances and for his ownership of the newspaper The Town.

After being orphaned at a young age, Nicholson was raised by his sisters, and became an apprentice to a pawnbroker. He then opened a series of unsuccessful businesses that often catered to the lower classes of London, selling cigars, wine and jewels. These ventures were frequently unsuccessful, and he often faced insolvency.

After a stint in the gambling industry, he began serving as the editor of The Town newspaper. It typically covered scandals in London high society. A public feud later erupted between Nicholson and another editor, Barnard Gregory, who published a competing paper. Nicholson also published other periodicals and several literary works, including an autobiography. After leaving the newspaper industry, Nicholson began operating a hotel. There Nicholson began his Judge and Jury Society performances, which lasted for two decades. These acts mocked and satirised members of London society and the preoccupations of the popular press. Though his acts were derided by some for their crudeness, they were attended by many aristocrats, politicians, and other prominent citizens. He hosted the performances at other venues in London and around England, producing the Judge and Jury Society for almost two decades.

Nicholson also staged poses plastiques performances at his establishments. These acts consisted of barely clothed women posing in imitation of well-known works of art. Nicholson catered beverages to a number of racecourses outside of London. He was briefly the owner of Cremorne Gardens. The changes that he made to the pleasure gardens there had a lasting influence on the park's reputation. Though he often encountered financial difficulties, by the time of his death he was known for his frequent acts of generosity to the poor.

His newspaper The Town is worth trying to track down too (dread W again):

The Town was a British newspaper that was published between 1837 and 1840. It generally covered the scandals and nightlife of London. Many of the topics written about in the paper were considered extremely vulgar at the time and it was often criticized for discussing these topics. Renton Nicholson, the editor and part owner of the paper, became embroiled in several legal disputes due to the articles that he published.


This bit is funny:

The paper consisted of four pages in a large format featuring illustrations. Frequent topics discussed included scandals, theatre and taverns. They often published drawings of waitresses and courtesans


I shall look for more information from better sources.

[dem bones]

Jun 16, 2021 12:12:44 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

I shall look for more information from better sources.

Thank you. Peter Haining is notoriously unreliable where attributions of authorship are concerned, so could be Renton Nicholson was entirely unaware he'd written Dombey And Daughter. PH's biography of the author is in keeping with above (which goes into more detail). The Penny Dreadful was one of the first Haining's I read, loaned from a mobile library on the Isle of Dogs, and still among my all time favourite books, period. I was always hoping he'd compile a vol 2, but perhaps it didn't sell well (there is no paperback edition, far as I know).

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jun 16, 2021 12:35:26 GMT dem bones said:

Jun 16, 2021 12:12:44 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

I shall look for more information from better sources.

Thank you. Peter Haining is notoriously unreliable where attributions of authorship are concerned, so could be Renton Nicholson was entirely unaware he'd written Dombey And Daughter. PH's biography of the author is in keeping with above (which goes into more detail). The Penny Dreadful was one of the first Haining's I read, loaned from a mobile library on the Isle of Dogs, and still among my all time favourite books, period. I was always hoping he'd compile a vol 2, but perhaps it didn't sell well (there is no paperback edition, far as I know).

Already this makes no sense. Open Library edition says : 

Dombey and daughter

a moral fiction

This edition was published in 1800 by Thomas Farris in London.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jun 16, 2021 12:35:26 GMT dem bones said:

Jun 16, 2021 12:12:44 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

I shall look for more information from better sources.

Thank you. Peter Haining is notoriously unreliable where attributions of authorship are concerned, so could be Renton Nicholson was entirely unaware he'd written Dombey And Daughter. PH's biography of the author is in keeping with above (which goes into more detail). The Penny Dreadful was one of the first Haining's I read, loaned from a mobile library on the Isle of Dogs, and still among my all time favourite books, period. I was always hoping he'd compile a vol 2, but perhaps it didn't sell well (there is no paperback edition, far as I know).

Attribution appears to be correct. I found a copy for sale:

Dombey and Daughter: A Moral Fiction.

[Dickens, Charles - Parody]. Nicholson, Renton.

London: Thomas Farris, [1847]. 1st edition (Gimbel H-338; Kitton 540; Miller, p. 249; NCBEL III, 798). [2], 94 pp. Illustrated with 12 wood-cuts. Tall 8vo. 10-1/8" x 6-1/2". Period brown half-leather with brown cloth boards. Original wrapper covers from Parts I & II (priced 6p) bound-in at rear. VG+ (spine leather a bit sunned/some minor rubbing to joints/multiple bookplates to eps). Item #3553

Do you have $950.00 handy?

Interesting fact is that this came out while the original Dombey and Son was still being serialised in parts. It was serialised between 1 October 1846 to 1 April 1848 and came out in one in one volume in 1848. Obviously he was cashing in on current interest. I wonder if there were any others like this?

Edited to say looking at this again (note to self: must concentrate more on details), I'm thinking it was serialised too, and has been bound together.

Edited again: It was originally in 12 parts.

[helrunar]

There's something so evocative about young (childhood?) Dem visiting a mobile library on the Isle of Dogs. The reality was no doubt rather banal, but I know you must have found at least a touch of magic in anything edited by Haining--for all his faults.

H.

[humgoo]

Jun 16, 2021 13:01:17 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

Interesting fact is that this came out while the original Dombey and Son was still being serialised in parts. It was serialised between 1 October 1846 to 1 April 1848 and came out in one in one volume in 1848. Obviously he was cashing in on current interest. I wonder if there were any others like this?

Meet Oliver Twiss and Co.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jun 16, 2021 14:01:23 GMT humgoo said:

Jun 16, 2021 13:01:17 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

Interesting fact is that this came out while the original Dombey and Son was still being serialised in parts. It was serialised between 1 October 1846 to 1 April 1848 and came out in one in one volume in 1848. Obviously he was cashing in on current interest. I wonder if there were any others like this?

Meet Oliver Twiss and Co.

Thank you Humgoo, I'm so happy you shared this! 
Barnaby Budge, Martin Guzzlewit haha!
Now I want to read them.
They seem fun (except to poor Dickens it seems).

"Oliver Twiss, unlike Dickens’ creation, leaves the poorhouse after being punished for fighting bullies attacking a young girl. Nancy is now known as Poll Smiggins and is given a more sexually explicit backstory. Bill Sikes is now Jem Blount, who also murders his lover but is not haunted by her death and continues his criminal career until he is killed accidentally. Oliver goes on to earn a BA at Oxford."

I must read them, I must!

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jun 16, 2021 5:19:38 GMT dem bones said:

Dombey and Daughter has a peg leg monkey in it.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Swampirella please find online versions of these books.

[Swampirella]

Jun 16, 2021 14:46:47 GMT 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr said:

Swampirella please find online versions of these books.

Sorry, this is the best I could do. It's not available in digital form, just paperback & I guess the $950 version is hardcover. 11 pounds in the UK, $11 in the US....$31.79 in Canada (free shipping but that's still a rip off)

www.amazon.co.uk/Dombey-Daughter-Fiction-Renton-Nicholson/dp/B003JBI4W8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dombey+and+Daughter+Renton+Nicholson&qid=1623855292&sr=8-1

[dem bones]

Found pdfs of 'The Actor's Story' (Dombey & Daughter) and Hannah Maria Jones''The Life Of A Murderer' (The Shipwrecked Stranger) on my hard drive. From the presentation, looks like they came from the long defunct horror masters site, so many thanks to them!

princesstuvstarr, in case you're not aware of them, Haining edited two Great Tales of Terror: Gothic Stories of Horror & Romance paperbacks, might be of interest to you. Author attributions are possibly his wildest ever, but it's the stories that count. and the 'Great British' selection is a particular joy.

Helrunar. The Isle of Dogs was grim. I was so happy when GNS destroyed it in Crabs on the Rampage

Attachments:

The Actors Tale.pdf (26.8 KB)

Life of a murderer.pdf (27.31 KB)