Dracula.

'the blood is the life!'

The first edition of Bram Stoker's vampire classic, a genre-defining masterpiece inspiring numerous reprints, variations, pastiches, stage & screen versions over the years. The gothic tale of Jonathan Harker's perilous struggle to destroy the diabolical Dracula, putting the lives of his friends and loved ones at terrible risk, not least his fiancée Mina who develops a psychic link with the vampire Count. The book, written in largely epistolary format, has been critically lauded since its publication, occasionally with intriguing or surprising interpretations of subtext or author's motives. Now a cornerstone of gothic and horror literature, the cultural impact of Dracula can still be felt well over a century later.

Points for the first edition of Dracula are complex but most experts agree that the earliest printing of Dracula was issued on thick paper, contained a blank final leaf, and no terminal publisher's advertisements. Later issues of the first edition were printed on thinner paper, contained an advertisement for 'Shoulder of Shasta' on the rear flyleaf, and included a 16-page publisher's catalogue. Richard Dalby, in his 1983 bibliography of Stoker, states that 'later issues of the first edition carry an advertisement for The Shoulder of Shasta on the rear flyleaf [392]' and that the 'publishers cannot confirm any other points regarding status of the first issue, nor the exact publishing date'. In the revised and expanded version of his bibliography published in 2004, he incorporated a variant (as this copy) that contains the points of thicker paper, a blank final leaf, and an eight-page terminal catalogue beginning with an advertisement for The Amazing Marriage by George Meredith, ending with one for The Whitehall Shakespeare, and carrying no mention of Dracula. This copy has the appropriate paper thickness, a blank final leaf (391/392), and does not contain the 16 page publisher's catalogue but has the 8 page terminal catalogue mentioned above. 'Although it was based in part on the crude Varney, the Vampire and the superior Carmilla by LeFanu, Dracula remains the definitive treatment of the classical vampire, a work of great imagination and conviction... it is one of the great classics of supernatural fiction' (Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1546).

First edition, second issue; 8vo (20 x 14 cm); scarce early variant issue, conforms to the earliest printing/first issue, printed on thick paper, without the advertisement for 'The Shoulder of Shasta' on p. [392] but with an eight-page terminal catalogue of adverts beginning with an advertisement for 'The Amazing Marriage' by George Meredith, ending with one for 'The Whitehall Shakespeare', and carrying no mention of Dracula, four titles listed to verso of half title, mark from old paperclip to half-title replicated on opposite page, blind impression left to a few leaves, slight spotting to margin of contents page, paperclip mark to p. [2-3], small mark to lower p. [16-17], small closed tear to lower edge of p. [31], light spotting to lower p. [40-1], small dirt marks to margins of p. [44], small chip to lower edge of p. [131], small spots to upper corner and lower margin with transfer onto opposite leaf p. [188-9], small marks to lower margin and lower centre of p. [276-7] not affecting legibility of text, spot to inner margin p. [290-1], overall very good condition given the age and scarcity of this issue; modern full yellow morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe after the original, blocked in red foil to front, back and spine, including red line borders front and back, protected in a yellow cloth slipcase with red leather entry; [x], 390pp, [2]pp.