Literature

A Mystery in Scarlet: Editorial Introduction

Submitted by Rebecca Nesvet on
August, 2020

Robert Louis Stevenson, celebrated author of Treasure Island  (1882-3), Kidnapped (1886), and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886) was a lifelong connoisseur of "penny dreadfuls": illustrated serial fiction that targeted working-class readers. In Stevenson's childhood, his nurse Alison Cunningham often read dreadfuls to him. In adulthood, Stevenson was haunted by one serial in particular. This was A Mystery in Scarlet by “Malcolm J. Errym,” the pseudonym of James Malcolm Rymer (1814-84).

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A Mystery in Scarlet

Submitted by Rebecca Nesvet on
October, 2021

Robert Louis Stevenson cherished the 1866 penny dreadful A Mystery in Scarlet, written by his "genuine influence" Malcolm J. Errym, the pseudonym of "Sweeney Todd" creator James Malcolm Rymer (1814-84) and illustrated by the celebrated "Phiz" (Hablot K. Browne, 1815-82).

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The Race for Wealth

Submitted by David Rettenmaier on

Charlotte Riddell’s The Race for Wealth, first serialized in Once a Week and published in book form in 1866, revolves around two themes: adulteration and adultery. It is both a business novel, exploring the ambiguities of commerce and trade, and a sensational novel, pushing the boundaries of conventionality. Set in eastern London, the novel is replete with topical references to popular culture, contemporaneous urban developments, financial legislation, the history of the City of London and the adulteration debate that was raging at the time. The COVE edition of The Race for Wealth aims to orient readers in this web of allusions, and to provide a nuanced understanding of Riddell’s somewhat eccentric novelistic interests. In addition to lead editors Silvana Colella (University of Macerata) and Frederik Van Dam (Radboud University), the team includes..

In an Artist's Studio

Submitted by David Rettenmaier on

This COVE edition of Christina Rossetti’s “In an Artist’s Studio" will attempt what Dino Franco Felluga, the lead editor, is calling—inspired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “The Sonnet"—a “momentous edition.” The original annotations were assembled during an otherwise ephemeral close-reading session: at the NAVSA/AVSA NYU/Purdue conference at La Pietra in Florence, Italy (May 2017). The collective annotation project was then augmented over the year following the conference. 

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