James Malcolm Rymer

James Malcolm Rymer was a Scottish writer of penny dreadfuls and considered to be the author of Varney, the Vampyre and Sweeney Todd.

Very little is known about Rymer except that he was a writer of thrillers from the 1840s to the 1860s for the English bookseller and publisher, Edward Lloyd. In the London Directory for 1841, he is listed as a civil engineer, living at 42 Burton Street, and the British Museum catalogue mentions him in 1842 as editing Queen’s Magazine.

Rymer’s novels appeared in England under his own name as well as anagrammatic pseudonyms such as Malcolm J. Errym and Malcolm J. Merry.