On 1 March 1847, George Dibdin Pitt’s melodrama The String of Pearls, or the Fiend of Fleet Street (the first play to introduce Sweeney Todd to the stage, adapted from the The String of Pearls: A Romance) premiered at the Britannia Saloon. In 1883, a significantly altered version was published as Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street, or The String of Pearls in Dick’s Standard Plays. Image: Title page of Sweeney Todd, or The String of Pearls, Dick’s Standard Plays No. 499. Theatre Collections, Templeman Library, University of Kent, UK. Used with permission.

Articles

Sharon Aronofsky Weltman, “1847: Sweeney Todd and Abolition”