His Master’s Reflection: Travels With John Polidori, Lord Byron’s Doctor and Author of the Vampyre

Qualifying as a doctor at the tender age of nineteen, John Polidori was employed less than a year later by the poet, Lord Byron, as his travelling physician. In His Master’s Reflection, the authors follow Polidori’s footsteps as he accompanies Byron through Europe to Switzerland. Fuelled by friends, Byron finally releases Polidori from his contract, leaving the penniless medic to wander over the Alps on foot to Italy. Unable to establish himself as a doctor to the expatriate community, he admits defeat and returns to England. Still harbouring literary ambitions, his one chance at fame is cruelly denied when The Vampyre, the story he wrote in Geneva, is attributed to Byron. Gossip and retelling of events have cast Polidori in the role of a petulant plagiarist. The authors show that the handsome Polidori was more than just his master’s reflection.