Varney the Vampire: Or the Feast of Blood. A Romance.
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Before there was Dracula, there was Varney the Vampyre, the most famous of the sensational penny dreadfuls issued by Victorian-era publishers. Printed anonymously in serial form in 1847, these gripping tales recount the exploits of a deathless creature with an insatiable appetite for blood. A succession of exciting episodes chronicle the horrible fates of Varney's victims as well as the terrifying experiences of the band of comrades sworn to destroy the vampire.
Varney the Vampyre not only thrilled countless eager readers but also established many of the conventions and ideas associated with vampirism. Scarcely any copies of the original edition survive, yet this legendary "feast of blood" continues to captivate readers with its inexplicable deaths, impossible escapes, revivifications, and graveyard rituals.
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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, as well as the co-author with Rymer of Varney the Vampire. 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.
James Malcolm Rymer (1814–1884) was a British nineteenth-century writer of penny dreadfuls, and is the co-author with Thomas Peckett Prest of both Varney the Vampire (1847) and The String of Pearls (1847), in which the notorious villain Sweeney Todd makes his literary debut.
