Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf

Having bound Flora Francatelli to the chair, in the manner just described, the three nuns fell back a few paces, and the wretched girl felt the floor giving way under her. A dreadful scream burst from her lips as slowly, slowly the chair sank down; while the working of hidden machinery in the roof, and the steady, monotonous revolution of wheels, sounded with ominous din upon her ears. An ice-stream seemed to pour over her soul. Wildly she cast around her eyes; and then more piercing became her shrieks, as she found herself gradually descending into what seemed to be a pit or well... —from Chapter XIX: “The Descent.—The Chamber of Penitence” Fans of horror and students of the history of pulp fiction will be enthralled by this little-remembered early novel of werewolf fantasy, a “penny dreadful” first published in 1846–7 and written by British author GEORGE WILLIAM MACARTHUR REYNOLDS (1814–1879). The veritable Stephen King of his day—his lurid stories were more widely read than Dickens’ work—Reynolds here gives us the strange exploits of Wagner, a 16th-century German peasant who made a pact with the devil for immortality, and hence was cursed to become a werewolf on a disturbingly regular basis. With his beautiful but wicked companion Nisida, he roams a world of Gothic nightmares, of horrifying intrigue, murder, and strange supernatural doings. Cosimo is proud to present this new edition of a forgotten classic, reproduced here in a charming replica of an 1865 edition, complete with the original illustrations. 3