penny dreadful
Victorian horror serial
A penny dreadful was a type of cheap sensational fiction published in 19th-century Britain, sold for a penny per installment and featuring lurid tales of crime, adventure, and the supernatural.
The term now refers more broadly to any cheaply produced, sensationalized story or publication.
The novel reads like a penny dreadful, full of melodrama and improbable escapes.
The phrase carries connotations of low literary quality and appeals to base instincts.
Occurring in ordered succession
- gothicDark, mysterious aesthetic
- horrorExtreme fear or disgust
- sensationalArousing intense excitement
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
lurid · macabre · pulp · thriller · cliffhanger · blood-curdling · spine-chilling · supernatural
Low in price
- VictorianOf a prim era
- weeklyEvery seven days
- newsprintLow-grade printing paper
- pamphletUnbound topical booklet
broadside · illustration · working-class · mass-market · newsstand · printer · serialized · popular
serial
Occurring in ordered succession
- gothicDark, mysterious aesthetic
- horrorExtreme fear or disgust
- sensationalArousing intense excitement
melodrama · lurid · macabre · pulp · thriller · cliffhanger · blood-curdling · spine-chilling · supernatural · monsters
cheap
Low in price
pamphlet · broadside · illustration · working-class · mass-market · newsstand · printer · serialized · popular · sensationalism
- narrativesnovel, short story, memoir, fable, tale
- printed matternewspaper, magazine, pamphlet, leaflet, leaflets
- 1840s-1850sOregon Trail, California Gold Rush, Mexican-American War, Manifest Destiny, Underground Railroad
- British slangblag, bloke, bodge, blagger, bobby
- melodramavillain, heroine, hero, damsel in distress, happy ending
- Victorian antiquesbustle, corset, bonnet, cravat, waistcoat
penny dreadfuldeluxe edition
Enhanced version with extras
collector's edition · first edition · coffee table book · illuminated manuscript · hardcover
dread, penny, dreadful, pennies, penniless, dreadfully, pence, halfpenny, pennyroyal