Sweeney Todd

Thomas Peckett Prest (aka Thomas Preskett Prest) (probable dates 1810–1859) was a British hack writer, journalist and musician. He was a prolific producer of penny dreadfuls. He is now remembered as the co-creator (with James Malcolm Rymer) of the fictional Sweeney Todd, the "demon barber" immortalized in his The String of Pearls. He has also been associated with the authorship of Varney the Vampire, now more often thought to be the work of Rymer. He wrote under pseudonyms including Bos, a takeoff of Charles Dickens' own pen name, Boz. Before joining Edward Lloyd's publishing factory, Prest had made a name for himself as a talented musician and composer.

James Malcolm Rymer (1814–1884) was a British nineteenth century writer of penny dreadfuls, and is the probable author of Varney the Vampire (1847) (often attributed to fellow writer Thomas Peckett Prest) and co-author (with Prest) of The String of Pearls (1847), in which the notorious villain Sweeney Todd makes his literary debut.

Information about Rymer is sketchy. He was of Scottish descent, though born in Clerkenwell, London on 1 February 1814. In the London Directory for 1841 he is listed as a civil engineer, living at 42 Burton Street, and the British Museum catalogue mentions him in 1842 as editing the Queen's Magazine. Between 1842 to the 1867 he wrote up to 115 popular novels for the English bookseller and publisher, Edward Lloyd, including the best-sellers Ada the Betrayed, Varney the Vampyre and The String of Pearls. Rymer's novels appeared in England under his own name as well as anagrammatic pseudonyms such as Malcolm J. Errym and Malcolm J. Merry.

He died on 11 August 1884 and is buried in Kensal Green cemetery, west London.

David Stuart Davies (1946-2024), General Editor of Wordsworth’s Mystery and Supernatural series, was an editor, novelist, playwright and film historian.