Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror

by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz

ACE 1435157214 (ISBN13: 9781435157217)

Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus / Mary Shelley --
The Adventure of the German Student / Washington Irving --
The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin / Richard Thomson --
The Pit and the Pendulum / Edgar Allan Poe --
Sawney Beane: The Man Eater / Charles Whitehead --
Aurelia; or, The Tale of a Ghoul / E.T.A. Hoffmann --
Wake Not the Dead!; or, The Bride of the Grave / Johann Ludwig Tieck --
The Dream-Woman / Wilkie Collins --
A Night in the Grave; or, The Devil's Receipt / Anonymous --
The Case of Lady Sannox / Arthur Conan Doyle --
The Diary of a Madam / Guy De Maupassant --
George Dobson's Expedition to Hell / James Hogg --
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Robert Louis Stevenson --
The Apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford / Anonymous --
Lost in a Pyramid; or, the Mummy's Curse / Louise May Alcott --
In Kropfsburg Keep / Ralph Adams Cram --
The Buried Alive / John Galt --
The Dualitists; or, The Death-Doom of the Double-Born / Bram Stoker --
The Executioner / William Godwin --
The String of Pearls; or, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet-street / James Malcom Rymer.

Genres: Horror, Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Gothic, Anthologies, Fantasy

666 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Born in 1957, Stefan Dziemianowicz works for the publisher Barnes & Noble as an editor.

Reviews

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

SUCH. A. HARD. BOOK. TO. RATE.
I was really excited to recieve a copy of this book as a gift recently, because I was understandably under the impression that it was a collection of 19th century penny dreadfuls. In reality, it is a collection of 19th century gothic fiction; short fiction, as well as full blown novels/novellas. The desparity of the lengths of the pieces themselves was quite jarring actually; the shortest story in the book being only a few pages long, and the longest approximately 200 pages long.
Most of the pieces here are great, definitely worth reading.
I guess my biggest beef with this anthology in general is the misnomer of the title itself. Will a fairly comprehensive collection of actual penny dreadfuls EVER be released to a modern audience? I hope so!
If you dig the gothic genre of the period, you'll enjoy this gorgeous edition in your collection.

[Krisette Spangler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a great time reading this collection of gothic horror stories. The last story in the book is a novel called 'The String of Pearls'. It was fantastically horrible. Imagine going into the barber for a shave and never coming out again. Where are all of the people disappearing to? If you don't read the whole book; I highly recommend reading 'The String of Pearls'. You'll never look at meat pies the same again.

[Jessica Worthington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these "tales of terror", especially "The String of Pearls". This book also consisted of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which were both a great read. I also love that this book has a nice introduction about the history of penny dreadfuls; since, until I picked up this book, I had never heard of. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves short stories and horror.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished the first story in this bundle of penny dreadfuls - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
I knew the story but never read the book. "For whilst I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice on this?" To read this story from the view of the monster makes this really hard to understand. They call him a monster while the people surrounding him made him a monster, not giving him the friendship and affection he merely asked for.
Reminds me of everyday society...

Story 2 The adventure of the german student - Washington Irving.
wow this is a short that is really spooky... o.o It gave me goosebumps!

Story 3 The Wehr-Wolf A legend of the Limousin - Richard Thompson.
A really old story about a wehr-wolf and revenge on a Count. A former bodyguard who hided himself in the forest as a hunter, working before this for a king. Has to hide himself away to keep himself and his daughter safe.

Story 4 The pit and the pendulum - Edgar Allen Poe.
A short with twist, and so well written! I almost felt like I was imprisoned and was getting tortured myself o.o

Story 7 wake not the dead - Johann Ludwigg Tieck.
This short is amazingly good! It's a mix of the undead and the need for blood. Never wake the dead! It will not be worthed! The last sentence gave me chills. Wonderful!

Story 10 The case of lady Sannox - Arthur Conan Doyle.
The famed surgeon Douglas Stone flaunts his notorious affair with Lady Sannox, although his professional reputation begins to suffer. One night a mysterious Turk asks him to attend his wife, who has cut her lip on a poisoned dagger. The Turk insists that amputation offers the only hope of recovery. Anxious to pocket the proffered gold, and impatient to get to his mistress, Stone dismisses his professional misgivings. He excises the lower lip of the veiled, drugged woman--only to find that he was tricked into disfiguring Lady Sannox herself. Lord Sannox (disguised as the "Turk") thus gains his revenge.

Story 13 Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson.
I know this story allready for years, but never actually read the book. I like that the book shows the case from different viewpoints. And that through reading letters from these gentlemen the story reveals. The torment of Dr. Jekyll feels really sincere and to read about his inner fight is a interesting way to learn about the character differences between the two.

Story 16 In Kropfsberg Keep - Ralph Adams Cram.
lovely and creepy short about the Keep in the wonderful Zillerthal. It's about a murderer hanging himself in the Kropfsberg Keep after he closed the door on his guests and set the castle on fire. For twelve years Count Albert's corpse hanged untouched in his room. Two young ghost hunters want to spend the night in the room of the Count against all advice from the surrounding citizens.

Story 18 The Dualitists or, the death-doom of the double-born - Bram Stoker.
In this short story a married couple, after trying for many years, has a set of identical twins. Two neighborhood boys have developed an obsession for destroying things. At first the boys ruin various objects found in their houses. However, as time goes by they become bored with inanimate objects and decide to move on to something else. You need a strong stomach for this one...

Story 20 Sweeny Todd - James Malcolm Rymer.
Different from the movie with Johnny Depp! love it! I believe this is the best story of the book. And after finishing this book how better to end it with own made meat pie! Enjoy all

[Ankur · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the perfect time of the month to read this book with Halloween just around the corner. While some of the stories in this book do not exactly fit in the category of "Penny Dreadfuls" they were nevertheless interesting to read as well. Also I came across some sensational short stories which were written by some of my favorite authors whom I always thought wrote full novels, so it was quite a surprise to see their small works as well. I'll write short reviews of each of the stories found in the book with the exception of long ones which are reviewed separately.

1- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley- This was one of the stories which cannot be strictly characterized as a Penny Dreadful. Its also a full novel and not a short story. I have reviewed it separately on Goodreads so you can check it out there. Rating- 5/5

2- The Adventure of the German Student by Washington Irving- A dark and creepy horror story with a good and scary twist in the end. The narration is quite good and the reveal at the end would have been quite shocking at the time it was written. Rating-3/5

3- The Wehr-Wolf:A Legend of the Limousin by Richard Thomson- While classically a werewolf story, it had some humorous and comedic elements as well which distracted from the tense atmosphere. Otherwise, its still a decent read. Rating- 2/5

4- The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe- You can never go wrong with Poe. An excellent claustrophobic and disturbing story which attacks the reader on all of his five senses. You can just feel the walls closing in on you until it becomes unbearable. Rating-5/5

5- Sawney Beane: The Man Eater by Charles Whitehead- I read online that this story was based on a true set of events of a person named Sawney Beane who along with his family engaged in cannibalism by killing lots of travelers and practiced inbreeding in the family as well. While the account of the events were pretty short, it gave me the opportunity to look upon the real life events which took place. Rating- 3/5

6- Aurelia;or, The Tale of a Ghoul by E.T.A. Hoffman- I quite enjoyed this story up until the middle, after which it became quite confusing and I was unable to determine where the writer was going and what was the point of such a strong start only to fizzle out in the end. Rating- 2/5

7- Wake Not the Dead!;or, The Bride of the Grave by Johann Ludwig Tieck- This was a really great horror story. The atmosphere and narration were spot on and built the slow and steady tension perfectly which culminated in a satisfying finale. Rating- 5/5.

8- The Dream-Woman by Wilkie Collins- Best known for his suspense stories, this one is quite good. Its quite chilling during the first half and while its not technically a ghost story, it still manages to built suspense through out its narration like all of his other works. Rating-5/5.

9- A Night in the Grave;or, The Devil's Receipt by Anonymous- The only story in the book which I was unable to understand and hence cannot give a review on. The English in this story is quite dated and despite my best efforts I could not know what was going on. I also could not find any summary on the internet relating to this story. No rating.

10- The Case of Lady Sannox by Arthur Conan Doyle- A tale of betrayal and revenge, the twist at the end enforces the storytelling trademark of Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes stories. It was a pleasant surprise to read something else apart from Sherlock Holmes by Doyle. Rating 3/5.

11- The Diary of a Madman by Guy De Maupassant- One of the most disturbing and blood curdling stories I have ever read which haunted me. It is the shortest story in the book, clocking at only 4 pages but the narration and the chain of events made me quite uncomfortable, which is a testament to its great writing and storytelling. Rating 5/5.

12- George Dobson's Expedition to Hell by James Hogg- I quite enjoyed this one. It was a separate take on a horror story which felt quite refreshing. The scene shifts from the real world to the other world was done quite nicely. Rating 4/5.

13- Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson- I'll be reviewing this one separately as its a long story and cannot be done justice in just 3-4 lines. Skipped for now.

14- The Apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford by Anonymous- I found this one an okay read. There was nothing special going on and the story was a little predictable. Rating 2/5.

15- Lost in a Pyramid;or, The Mummy's Curse by Louisa May Alcott- A classic tale of a Mummy's revenge, this one was quite enjoyable with its curses and premonitions. The tension picks up nicely in the end. Rating 4/5.

16- In Kropfsberg Keep by Ralph Adams Cram- A classic haunted castle tale. The pacing and scares both were good along with the suspense. Rating 4/5.

17- The Buried Alive by John Galt- An imitation of Poe's superior "The Premature Burial", it was still an okay read. But I believe Poe captured the terror of being buried alive more realistically. Rating 2/5.

18- The Dualitists;or, The Death-Doom of the Double-Born by Bram Stoker- I cannot imagine that this story was written by the guy who gave us the gothic masterpiece "Dracula". This is a very disturbing story with some very delicate and controversial subject matter. I can't believe how it was not banned during those times. Rating 5/5.

19- The Executioner by William Godwin- Another tale of revenge and not strictly a horror story. This one was a little long and the plot was suspenseful and interesting. Rating 4/5.

20- The String of Pearls;or,Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street- One of the best stories in the book, with the perfect balance of humor, suspense, horror and shock values. The climax of the story was sick,disgusting and highly controversial, the perfect recipe for the "Penny Dreadful", providing sensational shock value. I really liked how the narrator gave small humorous moments by taking breaks in the story and departing the narration from one point to the other very smoothly. Rating 5/5.

I was a little upset to see that some of the famous "Penny Dreadfuls" were not in this particular edition, most particularly "Varney the Vampire", but still this beautiful leatherback edition of Barnes and Nobles has some good stories to quench the Halloween thirst as well as looking good on the bookshelf as well.

[Aurore Persy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book; very enjoyable collection which includes many classic gothic stories such as Frankenstein (1818), a personal favorite, or Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I particularly enjoyed these stories that I had never heard of before:

- “Wake Not the Dead!; or, The Bride of the Grave,” Johann Ludwig Tieck

- “The Dualitists; or, The Death-Doom of the Double-Born,” Bram Stoker

[Ashlee Seelos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhhhh! The String of Pearls at the end of this collection of scary stories is truly horrifying! Sweeny Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet-Street, is definitely someone I would not like to ever run into. Also, I've never had a meat pie, but I don't think I'd ever like to try one after reading this book!
I read several of these short stories last October and finished the rest this October. I love reading spooky stories around Halloween and this was a great book for that.

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the term “penny dreadfuls” proper belongs to a particular type of inexpensive newsprint periodical, as explained in the introduction to this volume, the twenty stories chosen here can all be described as lowbrow sensationalist literature written for those seeking thrills in their fiction.

Of these, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley (1818 edition), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, and “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allen Poe are so famous that it hardly seems worth discussing them. Suffice it to say that they are classics, and well worth reading at least once, especially if you’ve only seen the movies.

“The Adventure of the German Student” by Washington Irving is a ghost story set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. It stops where a lot of current horror tales would end the first chapter.

“The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin” by Richard Thomson does in fact feature a werewolf. Most of the story space, however, is taken up by comic relief character Antoine Du Pilon, a quack doctor who is full of knowledge…most of which is wrong. This kind of dulls the tragic twist ending.

“Sawney Beane: The Man-Eater” by Charles Whitehead was based on a folk story that might have been loosely based on a real incident. It concerns a cannibal clan near Edinburgh during the reign of James VI. The story is written in the “true crime” style, regardless of its actual veracity.

“Aurelia; or, the Tale of a Ghoul” by E.T.A. Hoffman has a doctor tell his patient that it’s perfectly normal for a pregnant woman to have strange food cravings, and she shouldn’t feel ashamed of that. In fairness, she hadn’t told him what her cravings were for.

“Wake Not the Dead!; or, The Bride of the Grave” by Johann Ludwig Tieck is about a man whose first beloved wife dies and he gets remarried. But it turns out he still isn’t over his first love. A passing sorcerer finds this obsession unhealthy, but mentions that he could in fact bring the first wife back to life.

The husband insists on having this done, despite being repeatedly warned that this is a bad idea which will have catastrophic consequences. (Honestly, I think the sorcerer only went along with this for the chance to say “I told you so” later.) Predictably, catastrophic consequences follow. The ending comes out of left field and is jaw-dropping in its non-sequiturness.

“The Dream-Woman” by Wilkie Collins is about an apparently prophetic dream, and the effect it has on the dreamer. Is it a warning of the future, or did he shape his life to fulfill the dream?

“A Night in the Grave; or, the Devil’s Receipt” by Anonymous is a comedic tale told in Scots dialect. Highland piper Steenie tries to pay his rent, only to have his landlord die before giving Steenie the receipt. The new landlord claims there’s no record of the payment and no sack of silver to be found, so Steenie must pay the rent again. The piper must find that receipt, even if it means braving the gates of Hell. I found this one hilarious, but I like Scots dialect stories.

“The Case of Lady Sannox” by Arthur Conan Doyle was a strange read for me as there’s no Sherlock Holmes in it. A surgeon is called for a life-saving operation, only to learn the true nature of the veiled patient. This one has some period ethnic and religious prejudice, which is not mitigated by the fact that one of the characters is deliberately playing into it.

“The Diary of a Madman” by Guy de Maupassant is the journal of a respected judge who starts to wonder what it would be like to commit murder. Chilling.

“George Dobson’s Expedition to Hell” by James Hogg concerns a coachman’s dream (or was it a dream?) of driving his coach into the netherworld. This story didn’t work for me, a bit too thick in dialogue that is “yes I will” “Oh no, you won’t.”

“The Apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford” by Anonymous is a tedious ghost story that turns out to be a propaganda piece for Anglicanism. “Deism is wrong!”

“Lost in a Pyramid; or The Mummy’s Curse” by Louisa May Alcott is one of the tales she penned anonymously before hitting it big as a children’s author. Arrogant white explorers get lost in a pyramid, burn a sorceress’ mummy for fuel, and suffer the consequences of looting the corpse. The plot requires two separate people not to catch on to the symptoms of slow poisoning.

“In Kropfsberg Keep” by Ralph Adams Kram, two ghost-hunters spend the night in a ruined castle, reputed to be haunted. One of them doesn’t survive. A real ghost may or may not be involved.

“The Buried Alive” by John Galt is a premature burial story. The protagonist suffers an attack that leaves him awake but paralyzed and apparently dead. His friends and family fail to have an autopsy done, and he is buried alive. There was apparently a time when this narrow subgenre was hugely popular, to the point that Poe wrote a parody version.

“The Dualitists; or, the Death-Doom of the Doubleborn” by Bram Stoker is about a game of Hack that goes too far. (In Hack, two similar objects are smashed against each other to see which is superior in strength.) This story is dead baby comedy, and also includes animal abuse. You’ll either love this story or be completely repulsed by it.

“The Executioner” by William Godwin is the confession of a hangman who’s become involved in a years-long and highly elaborate revenge scheme. But is he the revenger or the revengee?

Finishing out the book is The String of Pearls; or, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by James Malcolm Rymer (probably.) This is a true penny dreadful serial, full of twists, murder and unlikely coincidences. (You may have seen the musical.)

In the 18th Century, a man named Thornhill comes to London to deliver a pearl necklace to pretty maiden Johanna Oakley from her lost love Mark Ingestrie. But being a gentleman, he doesn’t want to look scruffy for the visit, so decides to get a shave at the shop of Sweeney Todd. Mr. Todd says Mr. Thornhill left his shop hours ago, but Mr. Thornhill’s dog is sitting right outside, and the man never arrived at his next destination. Although they can prove nothing, Mr. Thornhill’s friends become suspicious.

Across the square, Mrs. Lovett’s pieshop is doing land office business, selling the most delicious meat pies in town. How does she manage to sell them so inexpensively and still make a profit? And why does she run through so many cooks in the underground bakery?

And on another side of the square, parishioners at St. Duncan’s are beginning to notice a peculiar smell in the old church, a smell that is decidedly…unholy.

This is a fun, if not always coherent story told with a lot of verve. (And, alas, some excess verbiage.) The narrator has fun with the reader, reminding them that while all the clues seem to lead up to Sweeney Todd murdering his customers, we’ve never seen him murder anyone on-page. And while the secret of Mrs. Lovett’s pie-shop (not just a hole in the wall eating establishment, but a distribution center delivering all over London) seems obvious enough, the narrator points out he hasn’t actually said it yet.

While the story stops every so often to give the history of this minor character or that (warning: one character’s backstory involves child neglect and abuse), we never do find out how Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett formed their eight year partnership, or why. One of the peculiarities of the story is that while Mr. Todd knows a woman who will bake his victims into pie, and a crooked mad-house operator who will imprison any of Mr. Todd’s young apprentices who get too nosy, he doesn’t know any fences, and is completely unfamiliar with the normal criminal life of London.

So Sweeney Todd has a houseful of loot he’s taken from victims and not found a way to sell, and has a dickens of a time trying to dispose of the string of pearls at anywhere near their real value.

Johanna comes close to the damsel in distress stereotype, but never quite crosses over into that territory, even while dressing as a boy to infiltrate Mr. Todd’s barbershop.

A couple of characters just get dropped between chapters, and domestic abuse is played for laughs in one scene.

This is not great literature, true, but if you’re in the mood for this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you will enjoy.

Overall, a good collection of a certain type of story, with a handful of mediocre entries. The Barnes & Noble edition has a handsome red leather cover and would look good on a bookshelf, or in your hands as you read it late at night by the light of a guttering candlestick.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 4 out of 5]

" Penny Dreadfuls were cheaply printed, inexpensive publications written to titillate the masses with shocking thrills and lurid horrors. Over time, "penny dreadful" became a catch-phrase for any story steeped in gothic horror that pushed the limits of what was acceptable in popular fiction." From the Dust Jacket

This is a collection of twenty short stories, some novellas, of gruesome and horrific stories of varying quality. Some, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and Pendulum deserve their place as timeless horror classics. Others probably needed to be left in the nineteenth century.

They are all Victorian in style which is to say they possess a certain melodramatic flair with damsels in distress and genteel men determined to save them. Many would have been considered quite horrible in their day but can be taken in stride in our jaded era.

The worst in my opinion was written by Bram Stoker, of all people. He wrote a disgusting little short of two psychopathic young boys who torment and murder babies and get away with it. Not sure what he was going for in that. It did not scare me, just filled me with revulsion towards the writer as much as the characters. Why write a story like that?

Some writers not much known today, wrote some good, scary tales and wrote them well. One was by James Hogg, a lamentably little known writer, who wrote a wonderful short called George Dobson's Expedition to Hell. A carriage driver has a horrible, hellish vision and when he awakes he discovers no peace (I don't want to give anything away so I leave out the details).

Another was by John Galt (who is John Galt? chuckle...if you haven't read Atlas Shrugged, forget it) where he describes a young man's nightmarish experience as a coma victim taken for dead and what happens thereafter.

Of course the Piece de Resistance and the last story in the collection is The String of Pearls better known as Sweeney Todd. I had never seen the movie or musical and do not know what attracted anyone to converting this story into a form of visual entertainment, but it kept me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails for the entire book, which is a couple hundred pages.

All in all, a great diversion for the month of October.

[Carly]

This book contains horror stories that would have been a "penny dreadful" printed in chapters for a penny and "shilling shockers" which were similar. Unfortunately the original penny dreadfuls such as the original story about "spring-heeled Jack" is not included which is disappointing.

Frankenstein (or the modern prometheus) by Mary Shelley: So far the letters in the story as correspondence is boring to read, I hate that gothic horror is something long and drawn out to get to the point. Hopefully the rest of the rest of the story will be worth reading. The inspiration for plot of the story was a result of Mary having a nightgmare and losing her baby.

The adventure of the German student by Washington Irving: I prefer the film novelization of Sleepy Hollow in comparision to the original text, it was a little bit bland and disappointing. A German student in Paris is obsessed and dreams about a unknown woman, then he goes to the site of public executions he meets the woman from his dreams. Gottfried talks to woman and agress to help her, but then after leaving his apartment, he finds her dead.

The Wehr-Wolf: A legend of the limousin by Richard Thompson: The small village in Paris is plagued by werewolves, so a group of people decide to hunt them and kill them. I really liked this story, I didn't k ow there are many different names historically for werewoles.

The pit and the pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe: One of my favourite short stories, I really like Doug Bradley's narration of this story. A man is a prisoner of the Spanish inquisition, but it it's explained why he is being tortured. The era or year the imprisoned man is being tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is never mentioned, so it's a bit confusing how he was captured or why he is a prisoner.

Sawney Beane: The man eater by Charles Whitehead: He was a man that lived in a cave, along with the help of a woman they robbed and killed innocent people. Due to a lack of food or money, they chose to cannibalise their victims, they would be quartered, the limbs would be salted and the flesh would be dried to consume. Sawney Beane had eight sons, six daughters, eighteen grandson and fourteen granddaughters all were the result of incest. Unused or unwanted limbs were thrown into the nearby tide to the dismay of local residents. Men, women and children were ambushed and killed. The king arrived with an entourage of men with bloodhounds in seatch of the cannibals and they wrre shocked by what they saw in the cave in which the family lived. Dismembered limbs, piles of clothing and money that belonged to the victims, this was the main reason they were not given a trial in court instead the men were hanged and the women were burnt to death.

Aurelia; or, The tale of a ghoul by E.T.A. Hoffman: A count that lives in a very extensively refurbished and designed home, is visited by a distant relative and her daughter Aurelia. Aurelia's mother has remarried, but the man has sinister intentions and after bgeating the Baroness, he is arrested.

Wake not the dead!; or, The bride of the grave by Johann Ludwig Tieck: The way this written was really annoying, it was very long winded to get to the point. A man resurrects his dead wife with the help of a sorcerer using necromancy, but it makes her become a blood-thirsty fiend, she feeds on her husbands children till they die, so he decides to kill her.

The dream woman by Wilkie Collins: This is a short ghost story about a woman.

A night in the grave; or The devil's receipt by Anonymous: I can't even understand this due to the way it is written, I would have difficulty reading/understanding it due to how it is written, so I won't bother reading it!

The case of Lady Sannox by Arthur Conan Doyle: I'mnot sure why this was included, becsuse it wasn't a horror story,

The diary of a madman by Guy De Maupassant: This storu is about a madman's journal who has thedesire to kill. He killed a bird, fisherman and a young boy but he was never discovered to be a murderer or never convicted of murder.

George Dobson's expedition to hell by James Hogg: This is a good story, but it is not explained why Goerge goes to hell, the devilish coachman is definitely creepy.

The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson I will write a seperate review for this.

The apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford by Anonymous: This story is about a woman that sees the apparition of a man she knew, he spoke to her and proved to her that he was real and not a hallucination or her imagination.

Lost in a pyramid; or The mummy's curse by Louisa May Alcott: This story is about a professor that is obsessed with searching through Egyptian tombs of forgotten pharaohs. The professor, fell and broke his leg, so he told his wife to break up a sarcophagus to use as firewood so their guide Jumal would see the smoke rising and he would be able to find them, since they were lost. Unfortunately due to disturbing the timbo of a sorceress, burning her corpse on the fire and removing her possessions from her tomb, they had been cursed by planting red seeds on an unknown ancint and deadly poisonous plant. The professor's wife became obsessed with it and worn it, it was too late when the professor discovered the truth about the plant.

In Kopfsburg Keep by Ralph Adams Cram: This story is about a count that murdered his guests in the keep then hanged himself, while wearing his great-great-grandfather's suit of armour. Rupert and Otto have arrived at the keep to prove to themselves that it is really haunted, they want tangible proof, that any haunting that may occur is real and unexplanable.

The Buried Alive by John Galt: This has always been one of mybiggest fears, to be buried alive, reading this story is very creepy and unsettling. The poor man in the story is buried alive, then dug up by gracerobbers to be dissected, then a galvanic machine is used which revives him! An hour later he is alive and well

The Dualists; or The death-doom of the double-born by Bram Stoker: Two children, have been stealing cutlery and play fighting with it.

The executioner by William Godwin: A story about revenge which dragged on far too long.

The string of pearls; or Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of fleet street by James Malcolm Rymer: This js Sweeny Todd (who was never a real person only fictional)
I will buy my own copy of this book and read the rest of the stories in my own time, but otherwise i read all the stories except one because i couldn't understand how to pronounce certain words due to how it was written so it was annoying to try and read it. I was a little disappointed. because I was expecting the stories from the Victorian era that would have been in the real historical "penny dreadfuls" "spring-heeled Jack" and other legends but instead it is just a collection of random short stories that aren't connected to eachother. Hopefully someone who have the idea to write about superstitions of the Victorian era sothen the legends would be included. I liked somne of the stories and hated the other half of the stories, I find it hard to be patient if the plot of a short story is a slow prgressing plot if nothing interesting is happening or the characters are very dull, self centered etc..

[crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m marking this as read even though I only read Frankenstein and Diary of a Madman as part of my Halloween reads. I plan on going back later and reading the other stories.

Frankenstein was a good read although at times I had trouble getting into it. Mostly because I felt bad for the monster. He just wanted to be loved!! 😭Frankenstein himself was frustrating. I was thinking of him as a dead-beat dad. You made this creature and you couldn’t even take care of him. It was nice at the end when Walton talked to the creature even if it was to chastise him. He didn’t freak out or attack or faint like all previous encounters.

Diary of a Madman was a quick read and I was interested as I had read Guy de Maupassant before. It definitely got a little creepy as the narrator goes on about wanting to kill and see this guy who is supposed to uphold justice become the very thing he fights against.

[Gem · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had a few cool stories, but the whole book is written in an older style of English that is actually considered fairly modern, but so instead of someone getting to the point nice and fast, it's DRAWN out like all heck!
Instead of a line like 'It's all your fault, I'll kill you!', they write like 'But my dear friend, I cannot believe that I am allowing myself to imagine, to even be able to utter, the possibility that it is you who is at fault here, but I am unable to come up with any other possibility. My friend, my truest of companions who I have shared my childhood and teenhood with, my bestest of best friends, has hereby been made my enemy, and I see no other option than to deal with you myself, engarde!' and thus it takes ABSOLUTELY forever to get anywhere and the stories feel SUPER drawn out.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book as my bedtime reading on October 23rd, 2019; last night I finished reading the book, and I very much enjoyed reading it.

This book contains two books, both great (Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the 1818 Edition, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson). Among the stories are "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Dualitists; Or, The Death-Doom of the Double-Born" by Bram Stoker (a very good, horrible little story), "Lost in a Pyramid; or, The Mummy's Curse" by Louisa May Alcott, and "The Executioner" by William Godwin. The final story is "The String of Pearls; or, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet-Street", which is two hundred and fifty pages, with a very convoluted plot, and was published in a weekly magazine during the winter of 1846–1847. In it we have the characters familiar to us from Stephen Sondheim's 1979 Broadway musical, though not the motivations or connections of the musical; we have Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett and her pie shop, the boy Toby, and Joanna (who has no connection to Todd).

I very much enjoyed reading this book, and was happy to have it as my bedtime reading.

[Rudy Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The old English in most of the stories took a moment to fully comprehend but it was fun taking a journey back in time and experiencing the literature of yesteryears. Overall a good read but not a quick one by any means. I actually put it down and read other books in between.

[Mark Slauter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of weird tales. I can image people hanging by a fire or the local watering hole and reading these out loud. Bram Stoker's, The Dualilists is almost humorous in its sensationalism. I would not want to be anywhere near those creepy little boys.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I found many of the stories to be on the slow read side, I absolutely loved the string of pearls story. It definitely made up for the earlier disappointment of the book.

[Brad McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankenstein
The name Frankenstein wasn’t mentioned until over 20 pages in. Not important but I found it weird.

There were more letters than I remembered. I remembered that Dracula was epistolary but had forgotten this book was.

I love how Shelly didn’t give an specifics on just how the monster was brought to life. I remember the electricity from the movie but the book was vague and she calls it out, too, by having Victor say he doesn’t want to relay the precise info that could be used again.

I like how Vic and his monster have mirrored arcs; the monster goes from monster to human and vic goes from human to monster.

I did find the monster’s being able to teach himself to speak and read by just observing a bit hard to swallow. But the book is over 200 years old.

I did appreciate the wonder he has as he becomes aware of his senses.

Lastly, I like how the monster rides his ice boat onto the sunset. He says he’s gonna do himself in but we don’t see it.

Adventure of German Student
Only four pages but Irving still achieves the sense of tension he’s known for. The subtle clue of the woman’s choker necklace. It came across as jewelry but when it’s revealed she had been guillotined the day before and that’s what was keeping her head on was a great twist. I loved that but my second thought was “Man, Irving is all about decapitation!” I had to go check on Sleepy Hollow. It was published in 1820 and this was in 1824. I wonder if readers at the time expected her to be headless.

The Wehr-Wolf
It’s common to have the title creature not appear until the end but there were too many “thous” and “thys” and “yons” for my liking. I do like that kind of writing but this one just didn’t work for me.

The Pit and The Pendulum
Poe’s writing always sends a shiver down my entire body. He’s so good at writing madness and terror that it gives me the willies. The ending as with all of his endings, was sudden and a bit confusing. I had to read it twice before I realized that the narrator was rescued by a fellow Frenchman and had been imprisoned by the Spanish during the inquisition.


Also, when he first stumbled upon the pit, my first thought was, how did he not fall in it when he was walking around blind?

Sawney Beane
A mercifully quick story of a family of incestuous cannibals. The reason the original pair retreated to the cave and decided to murder and eat passers-by so they don’t have to have anything to do with the world wasn’t very clear. Any mention of cannibalism turns my stomach.

Aurelia
Another story where the creature, in this case a ghoul, doesn’t appear until the end. I connected with the writing better than the Wehr-Wolf and loved the ambiguous ending where Aurelia attacks her husband and he’s driven mad…by fear, by having to kill his ghoul-wife, by becoming a ghoul? Dunno.

Wake Not the Dead
The first sorcerer of the collection. Also the first vampire. But not of the Dracula Ilk. This story predates Stoker’s by over almost 70 years. So the sucking the blood isn’t from the neck but the chest. The hypnotism isn’t a look but a breath. And the vampire was made when the sorcerer grants a widower his wife that his wife were still alive. The dude brought her back from the dead for him. While the aversion to sunlight his there, whether it’s fatal or not is undetermined. The stake through the heart is there but must also include the promise to never think of her with happiness again. Which he ultimately fails to do.

Dream-Woman
I really enjoyed Collins’ The Woman in White and what is largely considered to be the first modern detective novel, The Moonstone. I was excited to read this story. And it was pretty good. His style is very like his contemporary, Dickens. I appreciated his not trying to explain how Isaac saw the woman who would be his wife try to murder him 7 years before they met. It was a style reminiscent of the Woman in White, slightly spooky but not outlandish.

A Night in the Grave
Written in an Irish accent, I couldn't make sense of so much of it. I skipped it. No wonder it was only one of two anonymous work in the collection!

The Case of Last Saxon
A non-Holmes Doyle story that has the same fanciful set of circumstances of a Holmes. But I knew the doctor was going to cut off the lip of his mistress, fooles by the cuckolded husband. Only 8 pages maybe if he had taken more time it would have been better.

Diary of Madman
A judge's diary reveals his everyday encounters with sending men to die has made him become obsessed with killing. So he does. The last person he kills, he also has an innocent man executed in him place.

George Dobson's Expedition to Hell
George, a coach driver, takes a man and his son to a place. George is detained from returning home until he agrees to be back at that place noon the next day. George wakes up. 'Twas but a dream. But then he dies at noon the next day. 'Twas real! He drove to hell!

The Scot accent that appears in the dialog that happens only on the last few pages was jarring. Though not as bad as A Night on a Grave story above.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Like Frankenstein, the exact method of how the transformation happens, is glossed over. Also like Frankie, a lot of the story is told in letters. I had forgotten how second-hand much of the action in stories of the era is.

I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I read it. But it’d been so long that the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’s influence fell upon me. Hyde was smaller in the story, being more corrupt. But in movies he’s a big dumb brute.

I had forgotten that the more evil Jekyll did as Hyde the more he became Hyde until he couldn’t even transform back to Jekyll and, I think, he did himself in. How, exactly, wasn’t explained.

The Apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford
I had to look up what a Deist was; it’s the belief in a god but one that doesn’t interfere with humanity.

The other anonymous work is about Tyrone coming back after he died to prove that there is a god to Beresford. It was a little uneven and the prophesy Tryone gave to the Lady was dirty pool. She was told she was going to die when she’s 48 but she thinks she’s already 48. When someone tells her she’s only 47, on her birthday, which means she’s turning 48, she dies. So much fainting and unexplained death in this era of literature.

Lost Pyramid
The author of Little Women tries her hand at horror. And it’s a mummy’s curse! An explorer brings back some seeds from a mummy that he unwrapped to feed the fire that would get him found. He also threw in the coffins. It’s amazing the blasphemous ease with which such horrors are perpetrated…

Anyway the adventurer’s fair lady grows the seed, which is cursed and she dies. The End. No better or worse than much of the collection.

In Kropsfberg Keep
Two young men ain’t a-scared a’nuthin! So they spend the night in a haunted castle. One falls asleep and stays so. The other is awakened to find the ghost that haunts those parts beckoning him to a gap in the wall.

Other ghosts dance. The young man is threatened. He shoots the first ghost in the throat. He awakens. His friend has been shot in the throat. I actually liked the drama in this one. It was on the page for once.

Buried Alive
This four-page story reminds me of the myth that the term “graveyard shift” comes from peeps staying in the cemetery at to listen for a bell, which would be wrong when the finger of a person buried alive flailed in his grave. Which gave us “Dead ringer”. Only this time the guy buried alive, and aware the whole time, is shocked out of his trance after his grave is robbed to teach students anatomy and the first scalpel presses down on him.

The Dualitists
Only the second Bram Stoker story I’ve read. Two kids enjoying bashing stuff together. That start with inanimate objects then upgrade to pets, and finally toddlers. The scene where they kill the two toddlers made me sick. Then the toddlers’ father shots his own kids heads off and it made it worse. But when the true killers pin the blame on the father and get away with it, well that makes this the most terrifying story in this collection up to this point.

The Executioner
The first paragraph set it up like the dude had been an executioner for many moons. Turns out it was just once. The twist that he had lopped off his own dad’s head was good. Even though I guessed it. The story was well enough written that I didn’t feel soured by figuring it out.

A String of Pearls
I’d heard of the play and Johnny Depp-helmed flick but the only incarnation I’d seen was the end of Jersey Girl. The intro also ruined the surprise for me by telling me the pies were made from humans. Those two things aside, this was the best story of the collection.

There were plots and subplots and there were fully realized, if not overly complex characters. The writing style, with its purposefully long-winded way of saying simple things, reminded me of Dickens. Also like Dickens it went on too long. The entire chapter in the Mad House when a girl tells her tale to Tobias felt gratuitous. Especially since the exciting finish had already been set up. But that was the style at the time, right? Serialized and paid-by-the-word.

Some subplots were dropped. Sometimes literally. Like the girl from the Mad House, she fell when she and Tobias was escaping. And he left her behind. What happened to her? Other subplots were laid out carefully and made for a great twist. Like Mark being the cook not Thornhill. The author took great pains to say the Mark intended to change his name. But when he gave his name to the pie shop’s owner, I didn’t even think to doubt him. I was all in for him being Thornhill.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Barnes & Noble book, I had £10 toward a book at Waterstones and picked up this one. It looks and smells delicious, the cover and pages are a delight to touch, and is chokka block with not only little-known stories, but the 1800s blockbusters, like Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, and topped off with Sweeny Todd.

Well worth the money and a treasure for your bookshelf.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Realized why they were called "dreadfuls" reading this collection of short stories and novels. I love 19th century fiction, and have no problem with wordiness and lack of character and plot development that were common before the modern trend of realism. Most of the stories had something intriguing about them, usually the unusual situations the characters found themselves in. Some of the stories read as ghost stories, meant to frighten while being read, but were then easily forgotten. The best were "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Case of Lady Sannox" by Arthur Conan Doyle and "The Buried Alive" by John Galt. All were detailed and felt believable. Some seemed to merely want to shock with gore, with varying degrees of success. Some included sentimentality to try to make the reader feel something which the story itself would not have induced. Overall, the collection was entertaining but not literary, just as the authors had intended.

[Trevor Woodhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of stories, some were not the best but the others made up for it. Ranges from extremely gory to more implied violence. Somewhat overly wordy at times and hard to read what with the old writing style but very enjoyable if you like horror stories.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technically, there are spoilers in here for Frankenstein and The String of Pearls; or Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet-street, but I'm not going to hide the review or use the spoiler tag, because who hasn't heard of either of those or have at least a vague understanding of the basic plot in either story.

This is a somewhat difficult book to review.

Some of material in this book was for the most part written quickly for inclusion in magazines or newspapers by people who were looking for a quick buck or just trying to survive. Sometimes these writers went on to create better work, sometimes they didn't. I feel kinda weird complaining about the quality of these stories because it feels like going to a greasy spoon and then saying that the food was greasy. You know what you're getting isn't necessarily going to be good, but it might be what you're in the mood for.

Some of the stories were not bad; Washington Irving's The Adventure of the German Student is an early version of a certain type of ghost story that probably many 90s kids will remember reading in another book. Its hard to go wrong with Poe; his The Pit and the Pendulum is here as is Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Wilkie Collins' The Dream Woman is nowhere near the level of The Moonstone but still of better quality than other stories featured here; likewise, In Kropfsburg Keep by Ralph Adams Cram, is not one of Cram's best stories. Louisa May Alcott's Lost in a Pyramid; or, The Mummy's Curse is not good, I honestly expected better from her. It does feel like a penny dreadful, though only a very short one.

I was disappointed with Mary Shelley's 1818 version of Frankenstein; maybe I just expected too much of it. I've never read the later version (though I have read the Wishbone adaptation...), so I'm not certain what's different. All I know is that while this copy ran to only 153 pages, it felt much longer. It doesn't help that the story is told in flashback form or that the two main characters are so unlikable that its extremely hard to feel any sympathy for either of them. The only other real characters in the book exist only so that the Monster can kill them to get revenge against Frankenstein and so that Frankenstein can have a reason to get revenge against the Monster. Every sentence or passage that I found moving, was embedded deep in the middle of a vast amount of flowery words. Neither of them can simply say that they are devastated and despair of ever finding peace and happiness again. No, they want wallow in their misery. They seem to enjoy it, actually, the way they go on about it. All of that makes for some tedious reading.

The Case of Lady Sannox by Arthur Conan Doyle is probably one of his most disturbing stories (and he could write some terrifying stories, see The Lost Special for example). I remember being shocked the first time I read it; this is probably my third reading of it and I don't think I'm any less shocked.

Bram Stoker's The Dualitists; or, The Death-Doom of the Double-Born is absolutely bizarre and immensely disturbing. I'm assuming that it's a pastiche of actual penny dreadfuls, otherwise all I can say, is that if it came out tomorrow that Stoker was a serial killer, I wouldn't bat an eye. It's still awful either way. Congrats Mr. Stoker, you are 2edgy4me.

To my surprise, I enjoyed The String of Pearls; or, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet-street by James Malcolm Rymer much more than I thought I would. It's still not particularly good but it was at least mostly entertaining. It has its faults. It takes frequent (mostly boring) detours to delve into incidents in the lives of people not even remotely related to the plot, all so the story can be dragged out to a few more issues of the periodical it was written for. While the story drags its feet getting there, when it finally gets to the end, it ends pretty quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the previous 3/4 of the story seem to have moved glacially in comparison. Still, I enjoyed reading an actual penny dreadful; it was like taking a tiny trip back in time.

And here's what is probably my biggest problem with this book. It's titled "Penny Dreadfuls" and the byline is "compiled by". Guess how many actual penny dreadfuls are in this "compilation".
One.
There are stories from books that were the original sources for certain penny dreadfuls, but only one actual penny dreadful is included in this book. Other stories are from a time period later than the era of the penny dreadfuls. Now when I saw that it included Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I knew that it was not entirely penny dreadfuls, but I honestly expected that more than one of the stories would be actual penny dreadfuls. Unfortunately I was disappointed.

[Samantha van Buuren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic collection of gothic horror from the 1800's and just beautiful to behold.

I knew the book contained quality literature when I read the contents and found The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is a favourite classic of mine and was a joy to reread! I also found some incredible new stories that were creepy, disturbing and fantastic to read.

The Wehr-Wolf: A Legend of the Limousin by Richard Thomson is a wonderful example of the werewolf myth, full of gore and brilliantly creepy. I also read my first Edgar Allan Poe from this book which is The Pit and the Pendulum. I found this story incredibly creepy and I will be reading more Poe in future!

Wake Not The Dead by Johann Ludwig Tiech I found to be beautifully written and again, so creepy. The Dream-Woman by Wilki Collins is another I can't stop thinking about. Definitely psychological horror at its finest.

The Diary of a Madman by Guy de Maupassant may be one of the most disturbing pieces of writing I've ever read. It just felt incredibly real and, luckily, we don't get to see how the murderer became a monster very often, so I found it to be a unique insite. It was the first horror from the period that I found truly shocking. Just brilliant!

As with all anthologies, there were a few I didn't enjoy, which is why only four stars. I'm saddened that one of them was Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet-street by James Malcolm Rymer. Though I don't blame the story for it. By the time I reached it in the book depression seemed to have taken a turn for the worst so I will attempt it again.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone gothic horror fan. It is a wonderful collection that I am privileged to have in my library.

[Jacq.and.the.readstalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ultimate leather-bound collection of classic gothic horror novels!!

I fell in love with the TV show titled “Penny Dreadful” with the one and only goddess that is Eva Green, which influenced my interest in obtaining a collection of Penny Dreadfuls. There is a very interesting introduction into the history of these literary serials and its gothic influence which was fascinating to me!

It’s an anthology of literary geniuses dabbling in the macabre, the gruesome, and the fantastical. Mostly short stories (Who knew Louisa May Alcott could write horror!?) this also features 2 full length novels; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (which is truly horrifying). Each story varies in different amounts of horror; some are gruesome and horrific, some are mildly grim, and some are eerie and creepy. Victorian horror at its finest.

Its intriguing to think of how these types of stories were received back when they were published compared to today. Of course there are old-fashioned values and beliefs, slower plotlines and classic style of writing, but the creations, the suspense and the horror would have been astonishing to readers back then.

A quintessential read on All Hallows Eve or on nights when the full moon is high and bright and the wind is crying…(insert ghost noises)…

IG Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/Caf3HcBB6BA/

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers will be spooked & unnerved when they experience the stories in “Penny Dreadfuls”.

Dzienmianowicz has complied 20 different Victorian era horror tales, including Frankenstein & Sweeney Todd, that all have something dark or sinister about them.

The detailed and informative introduction is very intriguing, and is an interesting way to get readers interested in the stories of the novel.

All of the stories use mood (like the gloomy atmosphere in Sweeney Todd), foreshadowing (like in Jekyll & Hyde, Layon hints at the stories ending by talking about the experiments Jeckyl’s done ), and suspense (like in Frankenstein, when Shelly repeatedly says that Frankenstein is alone), in order to create a terrifying atmosphere to unnerve readers.

This collection includes a lot of classics, and some truly horrific tales, and anyone who’s a fan of horror would probably find something to enjoy. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good thriller.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I read through the stories, omitting the stories I’ve read before and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because I own that story separately. I’m only reviewing Sweeney Todd at this time.)

I read this for the 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge for book that is also stage play or musical.

The String of Pearls was a horrific and entertaining tale of a gruesome barber who murdered his clients. I enjoyed the story in print, but it was nowhere near as amazing as the musical.

I thought the short story was kind of long and drawn out as it was quite obvious that Mr. Todd was murdering people, but it was long and drawn out in a way that made it kind of hilarious that not many people seemed to figure it out, despite the many clues in everyone’s face.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frankenstein - 1
The Adventure of the German Student - 4
The Wehr-Wolf - 2
The Pit and the Pendulum - 4
Sawney Beane - 4
Aurelia - 3
Wake Not The Dead! - 3
The Dream Woman - 5
A Night in the Grave - 3
The Case of Lady Sannox - 4
The Diary of a Madman - 4
George Dobson's Expedition to Hell - 2
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - 3
The Apparition of Lord Tyrone to Lady Beresford - 1
Lost in a Pyramid - 3
In Kropfsberg Keep - 4
The Buried Alive - 4
The Dualists - 5
The Executioner - 3
Sweeney Todd - 4

Average rating is 3.6
Rounded up for final star rating.
The stories I gave 5 stars deeply disturbed me and would highly recommend if you enjoy fucked up stories.
Frankenstein is not worth reading. This is the only time I have ever said, watch the movie, the book is worse.

[Stefany Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the irony of this book being 666 pages long. Because of this collection, I finally got around to reading "Frankenstein" and "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," both of which I'm sure I was supposed to have read in high school. It also contained "Sweeney Todd" so I shall have to go watch that movie.

My favorite story of the whole collection was "The Case of Lady Sannox" by Arthur Conan Doyle. The plot twist genuinely took me by surprise and had me gasping aloud.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book It is definitely evident that these classics are the bases for some of the most popular horror tropes. It's interesting to be able to trace them so far back in history.

[Jeff H · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great stories in this collection, but most of them are not technically Penny Dreadfuls. The creators of this collection are using a much more generic definition of the term to define “grim and gruesome tails of horror” vs more specifically stories that were written is serial form and sold weekly on the streets in the Uk in the 1800’s.

So while the collection has great stories such as The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly, The Pit And The Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe, and Strange Case of Dr. Jeckle And Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson, the title of the anthology was misleading.

Only a few of the titles in the bold were actually initially published as Penny Dreadfuls.

[Huckle Buck411 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science Fiction and Horror are my favorite go to reads. I especially like reading classic weird/horror around spooky season. This B&N leatherbound classic contains the original Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The String of Pearls; or, The Tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street along with many other weird/horror short stories. Unless you read the originals, never think you know these wonderful classic tales. And, the leatherbound edition looks great on the bookshelf.

[Ricky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this collection primarily because of the language and sentence structure used at the time the stories were written. Almost all stories had something entertaining to offer. Most stories are quick. I figured the original 1813 Frankenstein, which opens the collection, would be the longest, but Sweeney Todd, a serial upon which the musical is based, closed out the book at something like 250 pages. I'd say that Sweeney was my favorite.