Penny Black printing plates Penny Black printing plates The printing plates for the Penny Black, two pence blue and the VR official were all constructed by Perkins Bacon, the printers of the first postage stamps issued in Great Britain. The construction of these plates was long and complicated, which was intentional so as to make the forgery of the finished article almost impossible. The first stage involved the engraving of a background for the design. This was produced with a rose engine which laid down a circular pattern of symmetrical design onto a piece of soft steel. This was then partly cleared to leave
Penny dreadful such titles as "Boys' Leisure Hour, Boys' Standard, Young Men of Great Britain", etc. As the price and quality of other types of fiction works were the same, these also fell under the general definition of penny dreadfuls. Appearing in the 1860s, American dime novels were edited and rewritten for a British audience. These appeared in booklet form, such as the "Boy's First Rate Pocket Library". Frank Reade, Buffalo Bill, and Deadwood Dick were all popular with the penny dreadful audience. The penny dreadfuls were influential since they were, in the words of one commentator, "the most alluring and low-priced