Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night

# Catalog Note

This penny dreadful serializes the opening chapters of Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night, a gothic adventure narrative set during the reign of King James II in a storm-ravaged Cornish landscape. The story concerns a murderous protagonist—Ivan, a brutal villain with fiery eyes who kills a French spy named Goutril with a poison-tipped dagger in a midnight struggle within an inn's dark chamber. Encountered by a mysterious wizard known as Dreadnought, Ivan is compelled into a supernatural compact: he becomes Dreadnought's bound slave for ten years, granted a charmed life vulnerable only to "a simple maid." The narrative employs gothic conventions—desolate settings, paranormal encounters, sorcery, and demonic familiars—combined with sensational violence and melodramatic rhetoric. The text is illustrated with numerous engravings and was published by the Newsagents' Publishing Company, Fleet Street, in 1866.