Nicole C. Dittmer- Penny Bloods: Gothic Tales

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Nicole C. Dittmer [ed.] - Penny Bloods: Gothic Tales of Dangerous Women (British Library, 2023)

Mag Rulug

Introduction
A Note from the publisher

Elizabeth Caroline Gray - The Skeleton Count; or, The Vampire Mistress
Wizard - The Wild Witch of the Heath; or, The Demon of the Glen
Eugene Sue - The Female Bluebeard; or, The Adventurer
James Malcolm Rymer - The String of Pearls; or, The Sailor's Gift
George W. M. Reynolds - Wagner, The Wehr-wolf
Malcolm J. Errym - The Dark Woman; or, Days of the Prince Regent
Septimus R. Urban - The Wronged Wife; or, The Heart of Hate


Blurb
Her cheeks were pale, and her eyes had the wild and stolid glare which Rodolph had observed when she awakened from the slumber of the grave; she quitted the castle, and after gazing around her, as if uncertain which way to go, she proceeded towards the village.

In the mid 1800s, the inexpensive publications known as penny bloods were all the rage in Britain. Spinning tales of high Gothic drama, violence and monstrosity, this literary phenomenon was significant for its depictions of dangerous and transgressive women. These popular figures established archetypes like the beguiling vampiress and inspired such milestone Gothic works as Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla.

Collecting seven tales from classic penny publications including the story of Mrs. Lovett, the piemaking counterpart to Sweeney Todd, this volume features newly edited text and insights from Dr. Dittmer's research to revive a wild company of witches, femme fatales, and deadly criminals for a new generation of readers.


Elizabeth Caroline Gray - The Skeleton Count; or, The Vampire Mistress: (The Casket, 1925 [?]). By the terms of his compact with Satan, Count Rodolph of Ravensberg is transformed into a living skeleton every seventh night, a small price to pay for the eternal life he can devote to the study of necromancy and the reanimation of the dead. To this end, Rodolph has his grave robbers steal a fresh corpse from the churchyard. Young Bertha Kurtel is successfully revived with no recollection of a previous existence. A smitten Rodolph takes her as his lover. She takes to leaving the castle at night ...

"But soon after midnight the silence was broken by a slight noise at the chamber window as if someone was endeavoring to obtain an entrance, and the flood of moonlight which streamed upon the maiden’s bed was obscured by the form of a woman standing on the windowsill. Still Theresa slumbered on, nor dreamed of peril so near, for the woman had succeeded in opening the window, and in another moment she stood within the room.

With slow and cautious step she softly approached the bed whereon the maiden reposed so calmly, little dreaming how dread a visitant was near her couch, and then she shuddered involuntarily as she bent over the sleeping girl, and her long dark ringlets mingled with the masses of golden hair which shaded the white shoulder, and the partially exposed bosom of Theresa Delmar. Her lips touched the young girl’s neck, her sharp teeth punctured the white skin, and then she began to suck greedily, quaffing the vital fluid which flowed warm and quick in the maiden's veins, and sapping her life to maintain her own!"

There is still some dispute as to authorship, though it seems Peter Haining has now been exonerated (see The Vampire Omnibus. Helen R. Smith argues for James Malcolm Rhymer, and Bertha's modus operandi is suggestive of a distaff Varney, the Vampyre (compare her attack Theresa Delmar with Sir Francis Varney's ravishing of Flora Bannerworth). Ms. Dittmer writes; "Although Rudolph is depicted as a visually monstrous figure, his behaviour and actions are lessened in comparison to those of Bertha. Once classified as the "angel" of her village, the revivification of Bertha transforms her into an all-consumptive, feral, and destructive monstrosity who is remiss of remorse and expectations of nineteenth-century femininity." Maybe, though can't help thinking she's as much a victim as the two girls she attacks (both survive the ordeal). It's not like she asked to be dug up and revived as the undead.

[ripper]

Interesting collection. I do like those multiple titles that were so popular back then. Penny Bloods got the blame for a rise in crime/immoral behaviour at the time, just like early 1930s talkies, horror/crime comics in the 50s, video nasties in the 80s, video games and rap music later on... I guess that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Wizard - The Wild Witch of the Heath; Or The Demon of the Glen: A Tale of the Most Powerful Interest (T. White, 1841).

"What would ye with me?" yelled forth the witch.
"They would witness the reanimation of yonder mass of filth and corruption" replied the dwarf."

Aforementioned corpse is that of the sainted Baron Glendovan, slain by his evil nemesis, Viscount Dumbardon, and left to rot in the Abbey ruins. Dumbardon, who lusts after his victim's daughter, Lady Isabella, seeks aid from the terrible hags of the forest. Isabella is duly spirited from her couch to the Baron's dungeon, but only after the crones have tricked him into a pact with a fiery demon. Meanwhile Walter Raven, sworn to rescue his betrothed, braves the horrors of the Haunted Heath to reach the Wild Witch and her hideous familiar, the Red Dwarf. Diabolical as they are, even these two deplore the monstrous crimes of the Viscount and turn traitor to secure our heroine's release. Lover's reunited, Dumbarden tortured by fiends in the Castle dungeon vacated by fair Isabella.

An incredibly busy plot, even in this truncated form, so best not to worry too much, just allow yourself to be swept along with the action as there is certainly plenty of that. Several impressive performances, not least those of the Witch, the Red Dwarf, the murderer and especially the indomitable Lady Isabella. "Are there no lightenings yet in heaven to strike the traducer to the earth .. Frown on, proud and haughty chieftain, but my latest breath shall be spent in proclaiming thy crimes aloud to the whole world, and call for vengeance on thy devoted head."

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"The little widow was dazzling in youth, grace, beauty and dress' clothed and coiffed à la mode of the age of Louis XIV, she wore a robe of sky-blue waved silk, the corsage of which seemed perfectly embroided with diamonds, pearls, and rubies, so well in taste were the stones disposed."

'Walmsey'

Eugene Sue - The Female Bluebeard: or the Adventurer [Extract]: (1845). Set on The Devil's Mount, Martinique. Story of Angelina, the most beautiful woman of her time, thrice widowed at twenty-three, whose reputed lovers include Hurricane the Pirate leader, Rache-l'âme, a ferocious Buccaneer, and Youmaale the cannibal from Crocodile Creek. The latest to try his luck is our hero, the Chevalier de Croustillac. Le Barbe-bleue, prone to revel in her infamy, finds him charming and much to her liking but warns that, alas, should she decide to marry him, she must at once begin the search for his successor as he will be dead within a year. The Buccaneer offers his congratulations - at least de Croustillac will die happy.

" ... Just think that, thanks to madam's grey powder, her second defunct laughed so so strongly and violently, that he bled through his nose and ears. But then, as to the laughing part, he laughed as if he were witnessing the finest comedy in the world — which did not prevent him, however, from saying like my engagé, that he would rather have been burnt over a slow fire than have endured such gaiety as this; and at length he died, laughing most horribly all the while, and swearing like one of the lost souls."

But is Angelina quite as wicked as she and her intimate circle would love us to believe?

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James Malcolm Rymer - The String of Pearls; or, The Sailor's Gift: (1846). A lengthy extract, comprising some or all of chapters IV: The Pie Shop in Bell Yard, XI: The Stranger at Lovetts, XX: The New Cook to Mrs Lovell gets Tired of his Situation and — as is the case in Peter Haining's classic (it really is) The Penny Dreadful — XXXIV: The Last Batch of Delicious Pies.

'Whatever unhappy wretch reads these lines may bid adieu to the world and all hope, for he is a doomed man! He will never emerge from these vaults with life, for there is a secret connected with them so awful and so hideous that to write it makes one's blood curdle and the flesh to creep upon your bones. The secret is this — and you may be assured whoever is reading these lines, that I write the truth, and that it is impossible to make the awful truth worse by exaggeration, as it would be by a candle at midday to attempt to add any luster to the sunbeams.'

Here, most unfortunately, the writing broke off ..."

Even as, unknown to him, his fiancée Joanna has dressed as a boy to gain employment running errands for Sweeney Todd, the mass-murdering barber, so Mark Ingestrie, masquerades as 'Jarvis Williams', a starving destitute, to beg work from his partner in crime. Eager to be rid of the present cook, Skinner, who has grown resentful and mutinous in his work, Mrs Lovett agrees to take 'Williams' on a weeks trial. She then slips Todd the word to cut Skinner's throat. So begins our hero's brief and grisly career as 24 hour veal and pork pie-maker in the gloomy vaults beneath the famous Shop.

But the monstrosity of her crimes has driven the devil's pastry cook to Gin. She demands Todd hand over her half-share of their amassed fortune, after which they must go their separate ways, put distance between themselves and those corpses of their victims yet to be served up to drooling Londoners. Todd agrees, rather too readily for our liking ...

Unlike the posturing Le Barbe-bleue, Mrs. Lovett is a properly horrible villain, though fair to say she met more than her match when Todd came into her life.

[toff]

Definitely curious about this, which may not yet be available in US. The sole review on a major retailer's site says "Several stories have been abridged, so don't expect the full text."  Is that a reference to how penny bloods could be rewrites of longer works, as with Franz J. Potter's The Monster Made By Man: A Compendium of Gothic Adaptations?  Or are the texts of the penny bloods themselves abridged by Nicole C. Dittmer?

Amused by all the old terms, "shilling shocker"/"shilling screamer" and so forth.

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Dec 31, 2023 17:58:22 GMT toff said:

Definitely curious about this, which may not yet be available in US. The sole review on a major retailer's site says "Several stories have been abridged, so don't expect the full text."  Is that a reference to how penny bloods could be rewrites of longer works, as with Franz J. Potter's The Monster Made By Man: A Compendium of Gothic Adaptations?  Or are the texts of the penny bloods themselves abridged by Nicole C. Dittmer?

Amused by all the old terms, "shilling shocker"/"shilling screamer" and so forth.

Opening story, The Skeleton Count; or, The Vampire Mistress is complete, the rest are abridged from often sprawling weekly serials, some of which were eventually published as complete novels (both Wagner the Werewolf and The String of Pearls should still be available in budget Wordsworth editions). Should you enjoy Ms Dittmer's selection, you might like to try Peter Haining's The Penny Dreadful, from 1976. Again, excerpts for the most part, and the dates and attributions of authorship can be a little contentious, but it's a varied and wildly entertaining selection, neatly rounded off with an account of the real-life murder which may have fired Rhymer's imagination to nightmare up The String of Pearls and James Greenwood's furious attack on these "Penny Packets of Poison" and — even worse! — those who publish them.

The "Shilling Shockers" preceded the Penny Dreadful by a decade or three - mostly cheap knock-offs and plagiarisms of Gothic horrors & mysteries by M. G. Lewis, Ann Radcliffe and Co. — at least that's what I gather from another of a certain editor's works.

The Shilling Shockers

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G. W. M. Reynolds - Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf: Extract focusing on Lady Nisida, 25, Fernard Wagner's secret lover, a cross-dressing mistress of disguises, prolific face at the window, jewel-thief, and murderess of perceived love rivals. For the ten years since her mother's death, Nisida has feigned deafness and mutism to great advantage. We join the story at her father, the Count of Riverola's deathbed. No sooner has he breathed his last than a grief-stricken stranger arrives to proclaim herself his mistress! Nisida is appalled, no less so by Wagner's obvious fondness for this Agnes to whom he now claims blood kinship. Pretty heads will roll.

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Malcolm J. Errym [James Malcolm Rymer] - The Dark Woman, or, The Days of the Prince Regent (Aug 1860-2). February 1814. Tragedy strikes the masked costume ball at the Italian Opera House in London's theatre land as a chandelier falls on the dance floor, crushing and maiming on impact with those crowded below. Several killed outright, others trampled in the stampede for the exit or burnt alive when their fancy dress catches alight. In the panic and the confusion, George, the Prince Regent — King in all but name now his father is too gaga to rule — is whisked to safety by a figure in long black cloak. Who can it be? How dare they manhandle him! She speaks! Horror of horrors, she is Linda de Chevenaux, the woman he married in secret nineteen years ago, recently escaped from the asylum to lead Paul's Chickens — the most formidable criminal gang in London. "Help! Hilloa there! Break open the door! Here is a mad woman! Help! Help!" What can she want with him?

Extract also touches upon several subplots, including the Regent's procurer, Sir Hinckton Moys' deception of a follies girl, lured to the Royal Palace on the promise of marriage, and the rise to prominence of vicious, bloated scoundrel Colonel Hanger. These, though, pale against the frenetic and terrifically exciting episode at the Opera House, personal highlight of the book to date.

[helrunar]

Great drawing, and the book sounds excellent. Apart from that frequently excerpted chapter of Varney the Vampire, I don't think I've read any Penny Dreadful/Shilling Shocker material.

cheers, Hel.

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Septimus R. Urban [James Malcolm Rymer] - The Wronged Wife; or, The Heart of Hate: New York Mercury, 1863, as The Vendetta; or, A Lesson in Life). "My oath! My oath is registered in Heaven. I will not leave one of the accursed race of Wentworth, whose life shall not be to him a burden; and in the process of so making it, I will enrich myself past all dreams of human avarice."

'Mother,' a Sicilian nonagenarian, lives only to hate the man she holds responsible for her granddaughter, Agatha's lunacy, and will not rest until her son-in-law has wiped the entire Wentworth family from the face of the earth. The instrument of her vengeance is a former soldier John Jeffreys who, framed for the theft of a jewellery box by Colonel Wentworth and his sergeant, was sentenced to face a firing squad. Unknown to Agatha, the marksmen were sympathetic to her husband, and all but one man fired blanks. The live bullet struck him in the neck whereupon he fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Agatha went insane on the spot.

Nursed back to health, Jeffrey's has taken a new identity, 'Sir Hannibal Murkington' (that's him repeating his pledge above) and struck a treacherous friendship with George, the youngest of the Wentworth sons. Occasionally, his resolve weakens - would not the death of the evil Colonel suffice; surely God would not have him murder the innocent? But the poisonous 'Mother' is adamant. Can he not hear his wife - the maniac of the mysterious house - howling at the moon? ALL shall die! The supreme vendetta must be fulfilled.

Rymer lays on the melodrama thick as you'd hope, and the atypically downbeat conclusion is a welcome and, I thought, extremely well crafted departure from the guilty punished, sweethearts wed norm.