The Mysteries of London: Classic Short Stories Set in London
- ISBN-10
- 1503162818
- ISBN-13
- 9781503162815
- Series
- The Mysteries of London
- Pages
- 342
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2014-11-09
- Publisher
- CreateSpace
- Author
- George Reynolds
Description
The Mysteries of London, like most of Reynolds' works, was first published as a weekly penny dreadful or 'Penny Blood, ' illustrated with lurid engravings and circulating mainly among readers of limited means and education. Although Reynolds was unusual in his religious skepticism (one of the main characters in The Mysteries of London was a clergyman turned libertine) and political radicalism, his tales were aimed squarely at the tastes of his mostly middle- and lower-class audience; they featured "hump-backed dwarves, harridans and grave-robbers [who] groped past against a background of workhouses, jails, execution yards, thieves' kitchens and cemeteries. His readers could depend on him to bring in the theme of maiden virtue rudely strumpeted as often as possible." Reynolds' Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf was a gothic novel which described how the title character became a werewolf after making a pact with the devil. Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf was republished in 1975 by Dover Books with an introduction and bibliography of Reynolds by E. F. Bleiler. Reynold's novels remained in print on both sides of the Atlantic much longer than many of his contemporaries. An 1875 edition of Reynolds's Ciprina, published in Philadelphia, lists 40 novels including Mysteries of London under the heading "George W. M. Reynolds' Great Works," priced between 50 cents and $1.00. The Mysteries of the Court of London, translated into Marathi as well as Urdu, remained a best-seller in India well into the twentieth century. The Marathi translation was done by K.B. Mande in early 20th century; i.e. the secret deeds of the elites of London. It was very popular in the Marathi-speaking world, as is evident by numerous references to the text in early 20th-century Marathi literature.
