The String of Pearls
The 1846 to 1847 penny dreadful that created Sweeney Todd. Authorship is divided by scholars between James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- 1846
- Form
- Novels
- Authorship
- Disputed: James Malcolm Rymer is a candidate, not a fact
- Attribution source
- Wikidata P50; scholarship divides the serial between James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
The String of Pearls ran as a penny serial in 1846 and 1847 and gave the world Sweeney Todd, the barber of Fleet Street, and Mrs. Lovett's pies. Penny dreadfuls were published anonymously as a matter of trade practice, their authors hired hands of the fiction factories. Scholarship attributes the serial to James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest, the two most prolific hands in Edward Lloyd's stable, singly or in collaboration, and the division of labor remains genuinely unsettled. This site records the attribution as disputed. One of Victorian popular culture's most durable creations has no settled creator.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote The String of Pearls?
The authorship of The String of Pearls is disputed. James Malcolm Rymer is a documented candidate, but the attribution has never been established, and this entry does not state it as fact.
Can I read The String of Pearls for free?
Yes. The String of Pearls is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at Project Gutenberg.
When was The String of Pearls published?
The String of Pearls was published in 1846 without an author’s name.
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