The Vampyre - photo 1
The Vampyre - photo 2

The Vampyre

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$ 9 450
Auction dateClassic
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 813638
Lot 131 | The Vampyre
The Vampyre

J.W. Polidori, 1819

[POLIDORI, John William (1795-1821)]. The Vampyre. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819.



First edition in book form, the earliest obtainable issue, with the original state of the prefatory "Extract of a Letter from Geneva" which still includes the slur on Mary Godwin and Jane Clermont (implying a ménage à trois with Byron) and a specific reference to Frankenstein as a book written by Mary Godwin. The very first issue in book form, like the original magazine appearance, states that Lord Byron is the author. This issue exists in only one known copy, at the British Museum. Polidori was Lord Byron's personal physician in Geneva and was present during the famous story-telling competition at Villa Diodati on 19 July 1816, which gave birth to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and his own Vampyre, the first of the vampire genre in English. See Viets, "The London Editions of Polidori's The Vampyre," in PBSA, vol. 63 (1969), p. 102ff.



Octavo (212 x 132 mm). Half-title. 19th century half morocco over marbled boards, spine gilt-lettered (minor rubbing, free endpapers browned). Provenance: Lady Sophia Hunt (contemporary ownership signature to half-title).

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