Thomas Peckett Prest

Thomas Peckett Prest (1810-1859) was a British journalist, hack writer, and musician. He is best known for his collaborations with James Malcolm Rymer, coauthoring Varney the Vampire (1847) and The String of Pearls (1847), a nvel also known as Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street. Prest worked as a writer for London publisher Edward Lloyd, earning a reputation for lampooning the novels of Charles Dickens.