Rose Mortimer; Or, The Ballet-Girl's Revenge — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# This is a title page for a Victorian penny dreadful This is the title page of *Rose Mortimer; or The Ballet-Girl's Revenge*, described as "the romance and reality of a pretty actress's life behind the scenes and before the curtain." The work is credited to "a Comedian of the T. R. Drury Lane" (an apparent reference to Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). Published in London by the News-Agents' Publishing Company Limited at 147 Fleet Street, this sensational melodrama appears designed to appeal to Victorian readers interested in theatrical scandal and the supposedly scandalous private lives of performers. The anonymous authorship and focus on female revenge suggest typical penny dreadful themes of crime, seduction, and social transgression.