Penny Dreadful (also called penny number) was a term applied to nineteenth century British fiction publications, usually lurid serial stories appearing in parts over a number of weeks, each part costing a penny. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. The term, however, soon came to encompass a variety of publications that featured cheap sensational fiction, such as story papers and booklet “libraries. This article is about British Story papers For the US version see Dime novel. ” The Penny Dreadfuls were printed on cheap pulp paper and were aimed primarily at working class adolescents. Wood pulp is a dry fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating the fibers which make up Wood. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types
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History
Penny Parts
The penny part stories got underway in the 1830s, originally as a cheaper alternative for working class adults, but by the 1850s the serial stories were aimed exclusively at teenagers. For the game see 1830 (board game. Year 1830 ( MDCCCXXX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display The stories themselves were reprints or sometimes rewrites of Gothic thrillers such as The Monk or The Castle of Otranto, as well as new stories about famous criminals. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Ambrosio or the Monk is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis which first appeared in 1796. The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 Novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, and it was indeed the Some of the most famous of these penny part stories were The String of Pearls: A Romance (which ostensibly introduced Sweeney Todd), The Mysteries of London (inspired by the French serial, The Mysteries of Paris) and Varney the Vampire. Sweeney Todd is a semi-fictional character who first appeared as one of the Protagonists of a Penny dreadful serial entitled The String of Pearls The Mysteries of London is a Penny dreadful begun by George W The Mysteries of Paris (Les Mystères de Paris is a Novel by Eugène Sue which was published serially in Journal des débats Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood was a mid- Victorian era Gothic horror story by James Malcolm Rymer (alternatively Highwaymen were popular heroes. The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1617 The term "highwayman" is mainly applied to robbers who travelled on horseback as opposed to those who robbed on foot Black Bess or the Knight of the Road, outlining the largely imaginary exploits of real-life highwayman Dick Turpin, continued for 254 episodes. For other meanings see Dick Turpin (disambiguation. Richard (Dick Turpin ( September 21, 1705 in Hempstead
Working class boys who could not afford a penny a week often formed clubs that would share the cost, passing the flimsy booklets from reader to reader. Other enterprising youngsters would collect a number of consecutive parts, then rent the volume out to friends.
Penny Dreadfuls
In 1866, Boys of England was introduced as a new type of publication, an eight page magazine that featured serial stories as well as articles and shorts of interests. Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common It was printed on the same cheap paper, though sporting a larger format than the penny parts.
Numerous competitors quickly followed, with such titles as Boy’s Leisure Hour, Boys Standard, Young Men of Great Britain, etc. As the price and quality of fiction was the same, these storypapers also fell under the general definition of Penny Dreadfuls (also known as Penny Bloods or Blood and Thunders in their early days).
American dime novels were edited and rewritten for a British audience. This article is about US novels For the British versions see Story papers and Penny Dreadfuls. These appeared in booklet form, such as the Boy’s First Rate Pocket Library. Frank Reade, Buffalo Bill and Deadwood Dick were all popular with the Penny Dreadful audience. Frank Reade was the hero of a series of Dime novels written primarily for boys William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26 1846 &ndash January 10 1917 was an American soldier bison hunter and Showman. For the 1940 serial see Deadwood Dick. ---- Deadwood Dick is a fictional character who appears in a series of stories or " Dime novels
Half-penny Dreadful
In the mid-1890s a publisher, Alfred Harmsworth, decided to do something about what was widely perceived as the corrupting influence of the Penny Dreadfuls. Year 1890 ( MDCCCXC) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Alfred Charles William Harmsworth 1st Viscount Northcliffe ( 15 July[[ 865]] - 14 August[[ 922]] rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper He issued new story papers, The Half-penny Marvel, The Union Jack and Pluck, all priced at one half-penny. At first the stories were high-minded, moral tales, reportedly based on true experiences, but it was not long before these papers started using the same kind of material as the publications they competed against. A.A. Milne once said, “Harmsworth killed the penny dreadful by the simple process of producing the ha’penny dreadfuller. Alan Alexander Milne (ˈmɪln (18 January 1882 &ndash 31 January 1956 was an English Author, best known for his Books about the Teddy bear ”
Legacy
Two phenomenally popular characters to come out of the “Penny Dreadfuls” were Jack Harkaway, introduced in the Boys of England in 1871, and Sexton Blake, who began in the Half-penny Marvel in 1893. Penny Dreadful (also called penny number) was a term applied to nineteenth century British Fiction publications usually lurid serial stories appearing in parts Sexton Blake is a fictional detective who has appeared in many British comic strips and novels described by Professor Jeffrey Richards on the BBC in 'The Radio Detectives' in 2003 as "the Blake soon took over the lead spot in Union Jack and appeared in roughly 4,000 adventures, right up into the 1970s, a record only exceeded by Nick Carter and Dixon Hawke. Nick Carter is the name of a popular fictional Detective, who first appeared in a dime novel entitled "The Old Detective's Pupil or The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square" Harkaway was also popular in America, and had many imitators.
Over time, the Penny Dreadfuls morphed into the British comic magazines.
Owing to their cheap production, their perceived lack of value, and such hazards as war-time paper drives, the Penny Dreadfuls, particularly the earliest ones, are fairly rare today.
A demon in the Terry Brooks novel Angel Fire East takes the name "Penny Dreadful" after seeing one of the novels. Terence Dean "Terry" Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is a writer of Fantasy fiction. Angel Fire East is the third and final novel in the Word & Void series by Terry Brooks, written as a prequel to his Shannara
American experimental/indie artists Avey Tare and Panda Bear, members of the band Animal Collective, have a song named "Penny Dreadfuls" on their album Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. Avey Tare (born David Portner on April 24th 1979 is an avant-garde musician and founding member of Animal Collective. The Giant Panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca, "black-and-white cat-foot" is a Mammal classified in the Bear family ( Ursidae) native to Animal Collective is a New York City / Washington DC / Lisbon based group of Avant-garde musicians from Baltimore Maryland. Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished is the first Album by New York based band Animal Collective, released in 2000 under the name
A metal band in the United States has used the name "The Penny Dreadfuls" and do songs based on some of the stories from old penny pages.
British folk metal band Skyclad have a track named "Penny Dreadful" on their 1996 album Irrational Anthems. Skyclad are a British Heavy metal band with heavy Folk influences in their music Irrational Anthems is an album by prolific British Folk metal band Skyclad, released in 1996 their sixth album in as many years
"With one bound Jack was free" became the archetypal phrase writers used to release their hero/heroine from an impossible situation, for example, hanging from a branch half-way down a cliff at the end of one instalment (hence "cliff-hanger"). The phrase could also be in reference to Spring Heeled Jack, an urban legendary character further popularised in Penny Dreadfuls. British English --> Spring Heeled Jack (also Springheel Jack, Spring-heel Jack, etc is a character from English folklore
Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers [1] is a horror host show based out of New England that airs on cable access in several US states. The witch hostess, Penny Dreadful, is based on the name of the cheap paperbacks, as is her show, Shilling Shockers (which were publications similar to penny dreadfuls and available in the early 19th century).
The Penny Dreadful Players is the oldest student-run theatre group at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. They perform 8-10 shows a year for hundreds of students and community members.
In his regular column for an Internet share magazine in c. 2005, the infamous English short-seller known as Evil Knievel, quite aptly, referred to risky penny shares as 'penny dreadfuls'.
Further reading
- Anglo, Michael Penny Dreadfuls and Other Victorian Horrors
- Haining, Peter Penny Dreadfuls
- Penny Dreadfuls and Comics, catalogue of exhibition, Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood
- Turner, Ernest Sackville Boys Will be Boys (survey of penny dreadfuls up until the 1960s), ISBN 0-810-34091-7
- G. K. Chesterton "A Defense of the Penny Dreadfuls"
Derivative works
Penny Dreadfuls have been the subject of other cultural works. Ernest Sackville (E S Turner (born Liverpool, England, 17 November 1909; died Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936 was an influential English writer of the early 20th century Some include:
- Dave Sim's award-winning independent comic book Cerebus the Aardvark featured Penny Dreadfuls written by the main character Cerebus at the behest of Weisshaupt in the Church & State I issues of the series. David Victor Sim (born May 17 1956 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian Comic book Writer and Artist, best known as the A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative Cerebus the Aardvark, or simply Cerebus ( IPA: ˈsɛrəbʌs is an award-winning independent comic book, written and illustrated by Cerebus the Aardvark, or simply Cerebus ( IPA: ˈsɛrəbʌs is an award-winning independent comic book, written and illustrated by
See also
References
- Black Bess or, The knight of the road. A tale of the good old times
- British Library collection of images from Penny Dreadfuls
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