The String of Pearls

This is the penny dreadful that gave the world Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street. Serialized for working-class readers between 1846 and 1847, it follows a London barber who dispatches unsuspecting customers through a tilting trapdoor chair, robs their bodies, and hands the remains to his neighbor Mrs. Lovett, whose pie shop does a roaring trade. A missing sailor, a loyal sweetheart, and a dogged investigation slowly close in on the grisly secret beneath the shop. Cheap, lurid, and hugely popular, the serial helped define Victorian horror and has fed stage plays, films, and a famous musical ever since. This free PDF and EPUB edition preserves the original bloody tale that started the legend.