A Mystery of the Campagna

Born on the same stormy night of 1816 as Frankenstein, Polidori's tale turned Lord Byron into Lord Ruthven, the first aristocratic vampire. This annotated student edition adds notes and context to the story that started it all.

John William Polidori

A young priest glimpses a dazzling courtesan on the day of his ordination and spends years living a double life with her, by night, as she drinks his blood. Gautier's 1836 romance in the translation by Lafcadio Hearn.

Théophile Gautier

A grieving husband watches his dead first wife, Ligeia, fight her way back to life through the body of his second. Poe's tale of a will stronger than death is a classic of the revenant and the proto-vampire.

Edgar Allan Poe

In a superstitious Breton village, a pale English wife is blamed when the local children start to sicken. Linton's 1872 story turns the vampire hunt into a study of fear, gossip and mob violence.

Eliza Lynn Linton

A young woman takes a well-paid job as companion to a wealthy old lady on the Riviera and wakes each morning paler, with strange marks on her arm. Braddon's 1896 story, with the original illustrations from The Strand Magazine.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon