The Vampyre

A Rare Treasure of English Literature. Much before Bram Stoker's Dracula, there was "The Vampyre: A Tale," first published in 1819. Created in the summer of 1816 by Dr. John William Polidori, Lord Byron's physician and a close friend of Frankenstein's author Mary Shelly, "The Vampyre" tells a fascinating tale of vampirism in the early 19th century. Part of the project Immortal Literature Series of classic literature, this is a new edition of the classic work published in 1819 - not a facsimile reprint. Obvious typographical errors have been carefully corrected and the entire text has been reset and redesigned to enhance readability.

John William Polidori (1795-1821) was an English writer and physician. He is credited as one of the creators of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction and is also known for his associations with the Romantic movement. ＂The Vampyre: A Tale＂ was the first vampire novel published in English(the first notable appearance of a vampire in creative literature being the short German poem ＂Der Vampir,＂ written in 1748, by Heinrich August Ossenfelder). In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron and his guests, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin (Shelley) and her half sister Claire Clermont, and Dr. John William Polidori, then Lord Byron’s traveling physician, were staying at the Villa Diodati, by Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The group decided to have a friendly competition to see who could write the best horror story. It was the genesis of Mary Shelley’s ＂Frankenstein＂ and of Polidori’s ＂The Vampyre: A Tale.＂＂