Wagner the werewolf represents the compiled exploits of one Fernand Wagner, a bitter old man visited on a stormy night by the legendary Dr. Faust. As in Faust's own tale, Wagner is made a tempting offer - renewed youth, intelligence and unlimited wealth. All he has to do is agree to accompany him for a time ... and to become a werewolf. When Wagner agrees, his youth is restored at a horrible price. on the last day of each month he becomes a mindless beast, part animal and part man. after realizing the error of his decision he begins a quest to find a cure. But Satan has a solution of his own for Wagner's condition ...

George W.M. Reynolds was a prolific author of the 19th century 'penny dreadful' (now known as pulp fiction), a lurid sensationalist genre in which the occult and supernatural featured heavily, although Reynolds was a cut above other writers in his field. 'Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf' (1847) is one of his best known works, and tells the story of an old man living in the Black Forest, who becomes a werewolf as a result of a demonic pact.

This early work by George W. M. Reynolds was originally published in 1848 and we are now republishing it as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'Wagner the Wehr-Wolf' is a short story about a man who makes a deal to remain young but at the cost of becoming lycanthropic.

George William MacArthur Reynolds (1814-1879) was a British author and journalist. The Mysteries of London, like most of Reynolds' works, was first published as a weekly penny dreadful, illustrated with lurid engravings and circulating mainly among readers of limited means and education.

The million-copy bestseller that rocked mid-Victorian England returns to print for the first time in a century
The government feared him. Rival authors like Charles Dickens, whom he outsold, despised him. The literary establishment did its best to write him out of literary history. But when George W.M. Reynolds, journalist, political reformer, Socialist, and novelist, died in 1879, even his critics were forced to acknowledge the truth of his obituary, which declared that he was the most popular writer of his time. And The Mysteries of London, which was published in 1844 in the "penny dreadful" format of weekly installments sold for a penny each, was his masterpiece and greatest success, selling 50,000 copies a week and over a million more when published in volume form.
The Mysteries of London is a sprawling tableau, seeking to depict life as Reynolds saw it in mid-Victorian London and expose what he viewed as gross injustice toward the poor. Some of the notable storylines involve Richard Markham and Eliza Sydney, two virtuous but ingenuous youths inveigled into the fraudulent schemes of rogues; George Montague, a libertine who appears literally out of nowhere and nearly overnight becomes one of the richest and most powerful men in London; Anthony Tidkins, the "Resurrection Man," a ruthless murderer and body-snatcher; and Ellen Monroe, an impoverished girl forced to submit to the worst degradations to earn money to feed her elderly father. The story takes us from royal drawing rooms, offices of cabinet ministers, and chambers of Parliament to the bowels of Newgate prison, the workhouse, and the lowest of taverns and gambling dens as Reynolds unfolds his thrilling plot, which never flags for an instant over the course of nearly 1,200 pages.
This edition, the first in over 100 years, includes the unabridged text of the complete first series of The Mysteries, including its illustrations, more than fifty in all, and features a new foreword by Victorian scholar Louis James and annotations by Dr. Dick Collins.

Title: The Mysteries of the Court of London ... With ... illustrations.Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.The FICTION & PROSE LITERATURE collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The collection provides readers with a perspective of the world from some of the 18th and 19th century's most talented writers. Written for a range of audiences, these works are a treasure for any curious reader looking to see the world through the eyes of ages past. Beyond the main body of works the collection also includes song-books, comedy, and works of satire. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Reynolds, George W. M.; 1849-1856. 8 vol.; 8 . 12603.l.6.