More like 6 to 8 months, but no matter: Amazon has finally coughed up String of Pearls: A Romance, the original story of Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
In the long interim since I ordered it, the book underwent some kind of weird metamorphosis. The cover changed, "Sweeney Todd" was added to the title, the price almost doubled and the length was cut by about two-thirds.
A quick read of the introduction reveals some the reasons: this new edition is based on the original, 1847 serial, not the 1850 re-issue, which was padded grotesquely (probably by a different author) to cash in on the original's popularity: hence it's much much shorter than the book I thought I was ordering. The title was no doubt changed for the simple reason that the original title is really gay.
As for the cover and the price, well -- the great thing about Wordsworth editions has always been that they're crazy cheap, and they look, read and feel cheap to boot. But Wordsworth now appear to be upgrading -- investing a little more in design and scholarship -- which I appreciate as a reader, but lament as a cheapskate.
As for the book's disputed and uncertain authorship (usually ascribed to Thomas Peckett Prest but probably contributed to by several of Lloyd's hacks), this seems a decent brief intro to Edward Lloyd's fiction factory and the world of penny-dreadfuls.
In the long interim since I ordered it, the book underwent some kind of weird metamorphosis. The cover changed, "Sweeney Todd" was added to the title, the price almost doubled and the length was cut by about two-thirds.
A quick read of the introduction reveals some the reasons: this new edition is based on the original, 1847 serial, not the 1850 re-issue, which was padded grotesquely (probably by a different author) to cash in on the original's popularity: hence it's much much shorter than the book I thought I was ordering. The title was no doubt changed for the simple reason that the original title is really gay.
As for the cover and the price, well -- the great thing about Wordsworth editions has always been that they're crazy cheap, and they look, read and feel cheap to boot. But Wordsworth now appear to be upgrading -- investing a little more in design and scholarship -- which I appreciate as a reader, but lament as a cheapskate.
As for the book's disputed and uncertain authorship (usually ascribed to Thomas Peckett Prest but probably contributed to by several of Lloyd's hacks), this seems a decent brief intro to Edward Lloyd's fiction factory and the world of penny-dreadfuls.
