THE STRING OF PEARLS; OR, THE BARBER OF FLEET STREET. A DOMESTIC ROMANCE.
London: Published by E. Lloyd, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, MDCCCL [1850]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-732, illustrations, modern three-quarter brown polished calf and marbled boards, spine panel tooled in gold and blind, black morocco title piece, brown coated endpapers. First printing of this version. The most famous Victorian blood, here bound from the publisher's 92 penny parts, that featured Sweeney Todd, the Fleet Street barber, who robbed and murdered his customers, and his accomplice, Margery Lovett, who baked them in pies which she sold in her shop next door. THE STRING OF PEARLS was first published in 18 parts in 1846-47 by the leading producer of penny dreadfuls, Edward Lloyd (1815-1890). Several authors probably worked on the various parts, with James Malcolm Rymer (1814-1884) recently getting the main credit. The text of this version is much expanded and the story differs substantially from the 1846-1847 version. In this version Todd escapes from prison but is killed when thrown from his horse while being pursued by the authorities. [Reference: Waite, The Quest for Bloods, pp. vi-vii; 85; 102. Turner, Boys will be Boys (1957), pp. [34]-45. James, Fiction for the Working Man]. Fore and bottom margins of first leaf of part 1 (pages [1]-2) frayed with shallow loss, fore and bottom margins of last leaf of part 8 (pages 63-64) torn, frayed and chipped, two closed tears in first leaf of part 12 (pages 89-90), margins of leaves 2 and 3 (pages 499-502) of part 63 slightly trimmed, chip from lower margin of fourth leaf of part 89 (pages 711-712) with a bit of loss to ruled border, an excellent copy overall with clean and supple text leaves. Very rare. (33965). Item #33965
Price: $45,000.00