POLIDORI, John William. The Vampyre; A Tale. (FIRST EDITION THIRD ISSUE - 1819)

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000597

AUTHOR: POLIDORI, John William

TITLE:  The Vampyre; A Tale.

PUBLISHER: London: for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819.

DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION THIRD ISSUE, pp.[25]-84, with the half title, complete, 8vo., this issue with the preface set in 23 lines and misprint "lmost" for "almost," on last line of page 36, with the original cross stitching, lacking wrappers, top edge trimmed others uncut.  Housed in a cloth clamshell box, gilt lettered black morocco spine label.

CONDITION: Internally clean and bright.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Polidori, Lord Byron's personal physician, accompanied him into exile and was present at the Chateau near Geneva on the evening in 1816 when, after recounting German ghost stories, Byron suggested that each of those present should compose a supernatural tale. This was the occasion that gave rise to Mary Shelley's supernatural classic, Frankenstein, and to Polidori's The Vampyre - a much inferior work, but still celebrated as the first vampire-gothic work in English, and extremely popular in its time (partly, no doubt, because it first appeared as the work of Byron).