The Puddelbee Company

The String of Pearls

James Malcom Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest

James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest were the two principal anonymous hack writers in Edward Lloyd’s giant nineteenth century publishing machine. Together they were responsible for over 230 penny bloods and other serialised novels published between 1832 and 1866. They wrote these both independently and in collaboration with each other, and also, probably, with other authors in Lloyd’s stable. Both lived relatively obscure private lives, and there are no verified portraits or photographs of either. In internet publications, a portrait of Edward Lloyd, the publisher, is substituted for Prest, and a photograph of Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, is substituted for Rymer. The latter is, perhaps, appropriate because Prest and Rymer’s most famous creation was Varney the Vampyre (1845).

Besides penny bloods, and later penny dreadfuls, Prest was best known for his parodies of Dickens, including The Penny Pickwick (1837), Nicholas Nickelbery (1838), and Barnaby Budge (1841), published under the pseudonym “Bos”. Thomas Peckett Prest was born in Marylebone, London on 13th May 1810 to William and Ann Prest. Peckett was his mother’s maiden name. After serving as an apprentice printer and compositer, he moved into music publishing, editing The Singer’s Penny Magazine and Reciter’s Album (1834 -) while practising as a composer and lyricist. Despite being one of the most prolific, and arguably most successful authors of the nineteenth century, Prest died of tuberculosis in relative poverty, at the age of 49 on 5th June 1859, and was given a pauper’s burial. His publisher, Edward Lloyd, went on to found the Daily Chronicle, and left an estate of £565,000 on his death in 1890.

James Malcolm Rymer was, at least financially, more successful than Prest. When he died on 11th August 1884, he left an estate of approximately £8,000. His early life is still disputed by modern biographers, but he may have been born in 1814 (possibly on 1 February) or 1804, in either Scotland or in London to a Scottish family. Originally a civil engineer, he may have continued in this profession while establishing himself as an author. In 1842 he became editor, and probably principal writer, of The Queen’s Magazine, a short-lived monthly publication. Rymer’s first serialised novel for Lloyd, Ada, the Betrayed was published anonymously in the same year. While writing for Lloyd, Rymer also published other works under various pseudonyms, many of them anagrams of his own name. One such was the infamous “Lady Clara Cavendish”, whose novel The Woman of the World was first published in Reynold’s Miscellany in 1858.

The String of Pearls, a Romance was first published in 18 weekly installments in The People’s Periodical and Family Library, edited by its publisher Edward Lloyd, starting 21st November 1846. It was then revised and expanded into a 92 part penny serialisation published in 1847 and 1848 as The String of Pearls or The Sailor’s Gift, a Romance of Peculiar Interest. This was then republished as a single volume in 1850 with the revised title The String of Pearls or The Barber of Fleet Street, a Domestic Romance. With many possible contributors, primary authorship of the work was first attributed to Prest, long after first publication, and then later to Rymer.

Forgotten Classics Edition

This edition of The String of Pearls is adapted primarily from the book edition, published in 1850 by E. Lloyd, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, as well as other sources in the public domain. It is not intended as, and should not be treated as, an academic text. Some changes have been made to address inconsistencies in continuity, including chapter naming and numbering, and character names and spelling. There are no footnotes or references, except where provided by the original author, and no commentary. Where appropriate the spelling and punctuation have been modernised (British English).

"Author" Illustation: Sweeney Todd, engraving from the original publication

Cover Illustation: William Hogarth (1780 – 1837), Four Times of Day, Night (detail), 1738

Copyright Statement

To the best of my knowledge all rights to the content of works published in the Forgotten Classics edition of The String of Pearls, including illustrations, resides in the public domain in all territories. Ownership to the particular layout and design of a specific publication is claimed by the publisher. Fair use, including non-commercial distribution and reproduction of the publication in electronic and printed form, is allowed with attribution to “The Puddelbee Company” as the source.