A complete issue · 392 pages · 1870
The Works of George W. M. Reynolds
A complete, restored issue of Penny Dreadfuls from 1870 — all 392 pages of cheap serialized Victorian sensation fiction — crime, horror, and lurid melodrama, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.
A complete issue · 392 pages · 1870
The Works of George W. M. Reynolds This volume contains the domestic intrigue melodrama "Lady Saxondale's Crimes," set in 1825 at Saxondale Castle in Lincolnshire. The narrative opens with an extensive description of the castle's architecture and grounds, then turns to plot: elderly Lord Saxondale, once a childless widower with his profligate nephew Ralph Farefield as heir, discovers Ralph's debauched vices—gaming, seduction, usury, and hints of patricide. Saxondale expels Ralph with a terse letter and subsequently shocks everyone by marrying a very young woman, by whom he has three children, dramatically altering the succession. The subsequent chapters trace interwoven plots involving family secrets, inheritance disputes, operatic society scenes, and mysterious intrigues. Key locations include cottages, country lodges, London drawing rooms, and the castle's hidden chapel with ancient vaults. Characters include Angela Vivaldi, various lawyers and servants, and shadowy figures operating behind scenes—all entangled in fabricated schemes, stolen interviews, and revelations promised across thirty-six chapters.
Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.