Reynolds’s readers – G. W. M. Reynolds Society

New Publication: “The Pretence of Civilisation:” Gothic Progress in G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London

December 15, 2025

By Hayley Braithwaite I am really excited to be able to share the news of my first publication with the Reynolds Society. It is wonderful to be able to join the ranks of scholars to have published on Reynolds, and to share my research into Reynolds’s gothic with this incredible community. ‘“The Pretence of Civilisation:” … More New Publication: “The Pretence of Civilisation:” Gothic Progress in G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London

The Sepoys: The Indian Revolt in Reynolds’s Miscellany

May 26, 2023

By Rebecca Nesvet The new book G.W.M. Reynolds Reimagined: Studies in Authorship, Radicalism, and Genre, 1830-1870, edited by Jennifer Conary and Mary L. Shannon and just out from Routledge, innovatively illuminates G. W. M. Reynolds’s radical career and exposes some new mysteries. Shannon examines the possible meanings of the 1843 Madras Comic Almanac’s claim to … More The Sepoys: The Indian Revolt in Reynolds’s Miscellany

Reynolds in The National Archives

May 5, 2023

By Ian Haywood At the end of February 2023 my colleague Mary Shannon and I made a trip to The National Archives (TNA) at Kew, London. There were several overlapping reasons for the visit. Firstly, we were scheduled for a PhD supervision with Mollie Clarke, an employee of the TNA, who is in the final … More Reynolds in The National Archives

Reflections on Reynolds

May 2, 2023

By Sophie Raine After seven years, I finally came to the end of my PhD and submitted my thesis ‘”Haunts of Infamy”: penny dreadfuls and aberrant urban spaces”. The first part of my thesis’ title, as many may have spotted, comes from G. W. M Reynolds’s best-selling serial The Mysteries of London (1844-46) and is … More Reflections on Reynolds

Reynolds In Translation

March 3, 2022

By: Mukaram Irshad Naqvi With the crowning of Queen Victoria as Empress of India in the year 1877, the British Empire set its foot firmly in India, taking over from the British East India Company. The interactions between the English and Indian cultures started to grow, especially in the field of literature. During the 1880s, … More Reynolds In Translation

The Parricide (1847)

January 21, 2020

For this post, I wanted to draw attention to G W M Reynolds’s first work– The Parricide, The Youth’s Career of Crime (1847)[1]. The text had originally been published under the title The Youthful Imposter in 1835 when Reynolds was only twenty year’s old. Though I was unable to find any reviews of 1835 The … More The Parricide (1847)

Reynolds and Me

September 23, 2019

By Dr. Stephen Carver, Literary Historian As a child, I possessed a morbid passion for nineteenth century gothic literature. I had inherited this trait from my mother, a Catholic turned Spiritualist with a taste for true crime and horror film and fiction. My parents had me late in life and my grandparents were all born … More Reynolds and Me

Reynolds Studies: A Personal History by Rohan McWilliam

June 24, 2019

I can honestly claim to have been interested in George W.M. Reynolds since early adolescence, even if my path into his life and work differs from the literary scholars who are making him their own. I first came across Reynolds in the library at St. Paul’s School in Barnes when I happened in a lunch … More Reynolds Studies: A Personal History by Rohan McWilliam

Stephen Knight on ‘The Man Who Outsold Dickens’

March 5, 2019

No prizes for guessing who the above moniker applies to. In light of the recent publication of G. W. M. Reynolds and His Fiction – The Man Who Outsold Dickens, it seemed like a good idea to conduct a bit of a parley with the book’s author, Stephen Knight. The Man Who Outsold Dickens covers … More Stephen Knight on ‘The Man Who Outsold Dickens’

Postgrads on Reynolds

November 26, 2018

Sophie Raine (Lancaster University) I was first made aware of the George W M Reynolds Society at the RSPV conference at the University of Victoria this year. I was giving a paper on Reynolds’ use of classical imagery in his illustrations of nude models. One aspect of Reynolds’ work which I found particularly interesting, and … More Postgrads on Reynolds