Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
John Polidori. The Vampyre. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 1819.
Price: US$17.24 + shipping
Condition: New
Description: This item is printed on demand. New copy - Usually dispatched within 5-9 working days
Seller: THE SAINT BOOKSTORE, Southport, United Kingdom
BYRON, Lord.. Mazeppa, A Poem.. London: John Murray, 1819, 1819.
Price: US$577.47 + shipping
Description: First edition, second issue, containing the first appearance in print of Byron's "A Fragment" (pp. 59-69), a vampire tale written as part of the ghost story contest that led to Frankenstein (1818). The piece greatly inspired Polidori's The Vampyre (1819), which was misattributed to Byron and frequently printed under his name, much to his displeasure. To prove his original text was different to Polidori's, Byron sent his publisher John Murray the never-to-be-finished "Fragment" with instructions that it should only appear in a periodical. Murray ignored his request and instead appended the text to this edition, afterwards receiving a letter from Byron angrily declaring that "I shall not allow you to play the tricks you did last year with the prose you post-scribed to 'Mazeppa', which I sent to you not to be published, if not in a periodical paper, - and there you tacked it, without a word of explanation, and be damned to you" (Wise, p. 132). The titular poem is based on the young Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709), who later became the Hetman, or military leader, of Ukraine. The edition also prints Byron's "Ode on Venice" (pp. 49-56). Copies in the second issue have the imprint on p. 72 rather than p. 70. Bleiler 320; Randolph, pp. 70-1; Wise, pp. 131-3. Octavo (199 x 120 mm). Early 20th-century boards, contemporary red morocco spine laid down and lettered in gilt. Bound without half-title. Toning to edges, pen mark on front cover, couple of tiny scuffs to rear cover, wear to corners, dried glue residue to foot of half-title, foxing to contents. A nice copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: FOUR WORKS by LORD BYRON bound in this single FINE BINDING volume. Each includes its half-title page, title page, complete text, and colophon at the end; each is numbered separately as issued. The four bound-in works are: BEPPO, A Venetian Story. London, John Murray, Fifth Edition, 1818. 52 pages. * MAZEPPA (including "A FRAGMENT"), London, John Murray, 1819 [First Edition, second state]. 69 pages. * POEMS OF LORD BYRON on his Own Domestic Circumstances. London, Effingham Wilson, Second Edition, 1816. 34 pages. * A POETICAL EPISTLE. London, John Miller, 1816. 15 pages. Bound in at the end of MAZEPPA is the rare Lord Byron unfinished VAMPIRE story "A FRAGMENT". FINE BINDING by HENRY YOUNG & SONS, LIVERPOOL, circa early 1900s. "Signed" by the bookbinder at the top edge of the verso of the front free-endpaper. Hardcovers, 3/4 CALF LEATHER with SIMULATED BIRCH-COVERED BOARDS, spine decorated in gilt, five raised spine bands, leather spine title label, gilt top page edges, SIMULATED BIRCH ENDPAPERS, 6x9 inches (15x21 cm), 170 total pages (each work paginated separately). HENRY YOUNG & SONS was a Bookseller, Publisher and Bookbinder in Liverpool, established in 1847 as Henry Young and in 1887 became Henry Young & Sons. GOOD condition, the covers are rubbed at the folds and edges, have some wear at the spine ends and corner tips, and the faux birchwood covered boards have some shelf rubs, but overall the covers are solid and quite lovely. Internally, there is a previous owner's signature on a blank prelim "(?) Moore" and a different previous owner's signature on the first page of two of the bound-in works "H. Brooke"; the bound in work "POEMS" is foxed and has soiling and creases but is still clear and solid; the other three bound-in works are bright, clean, clear and unmarked, with just a bit of foxing here and there. A solid, very presentable copy. SCARCE with BYRON'S 1819 First Edition / Second State "A FRAGMENT" and the FINE BINDING by Henry Young & Sons. NOTES: MAZEPPA is the first edition, second state, with the colophon moved from page [70] to the verso of page 71 (the page of ads). Byron's early Vampire story "A FRAGMENT" (pages 57 to 69) was included by the Publisher John Murray without Byron's consent. "A Fragment" was written during the celebrated week at Geneva in 1816, during which Polidori conceived "The Vampyre" and Mary Shelley conceived her classic Frankenstein. About A FRAGMENT (from Wikipedia): ******"A Fragment" is an unfinished 1819 vampire horror story written by Lord Byron. The story was one of the first in English to feature a vampire theme. The main character was Augustus Darvell. The story "A FRAGMENT" is important in history of the vampire legend in English literature because it was THE FIRST TO FEATURE THE MODERN VAMPIRE AS ABLE TO FUNCTION IN SOCIETY IN DISGUISE. The short story first appeared under the title "A Fragment" in the 1819 collection MAZEPPA: A Poem published by John Murray in London. Byron's unfinished "A Fragment" was appended to Mazeppa by the publisher John Murray in June 1819 without the approval of Byron. On 20 March 1820, Byron wrote to Murray: "I shall not allow you to play the tricks you did last year with the prose you post-scribed to 'Mazeppa,' which I sent to you not to be published.and there you tacked it, without a word of explanation, and be damned to you." The vampire fragment was a product of the ghost story contest that occurred in Geneva on 17 June 1816, when Byron stayed at the Villa Diodati with author and physician John William Polidori. Their guests were Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin (soon to be Shelley), and Claire Clairmont. Mary recalled the contest and Byron's contribution in the 1831 introduction to Frankenstein: "We will each write a ghost story, said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us. The noble author began a tale, a fragment of which was printed with his poem of Mazeppa."******
Seller: Blank Verso Books, Napa, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$3849.80 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION, fourth issue, complete with half-title and both Extracts, a little very light spotting, pp. xxv, [i], [27-] 84, 8vo, contemporary half calf, terracotta lettering piece (later, but blending in perfectly), slightly worn at extremities, and repair to head of spine, good. Fourth issue: without Byron's name on the title-page, gathering 'A' reset to 23 lines to account for the removal of a slur on Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont, and 'almost' corrected on p. 36. An agreeable copy in a contemporary binding. Pasted inside the front cover is an old bookseller's description, not identifying the issue, but asserting 'it is difficult to know who wrote this work' (though Polidori's name is given within square brackets).
Seller: Blackwell's Rare Books ABA ILAB BA, Oxford, United Kingdom
Polidori, John William. The Vampyre: A Tale. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819.
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, third Sherwood issue (Viets IV), with no author credited on the title page and without the references to Mary Godwin and Jane Clermont, and "lmost" to page 36. Finely bound in three-quarter red morocco, with two raised bands to the spine, boards ruled in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, light marbled endpapers. Near fine, with only some light scattered spotting and foxing throughout, lacking the half-title and ads at rear. Overall, an attractive copy of the first vampire story in English literature. The Vampyre was originally published by Henry Colburn in the April 1, 1819 issue of New Monthly Magazine under the title "The Vampyre: A Tale by Lord Byron." Although the tale was in fact written by John William Polidori, Byron's physician, this false attribution was continued in the first book form, also by Henry Colburn. Colburn's first state, with himself as publisher and Byron credited as author, was suppressed and no copies exist today. Colburn's second state (Viets I), of which only 4 or 5 copies survived, retained his imprint, removed the author's name, and included the half-title "A Tale related by Lord Byron to Dr. Polidori." Colburn then sold his printed sheets to Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, who produced a scare first issue (Viets II) with their publishing imprint and listing Byron as author. Sherwood's second issue (Viets III) mentioned no author, and, since the first Sherwood issue was also suppressed, it represents the first edition to be widely accessible to the public. This copy is the third Sherwood issue (Viets IV), with the main change being the removal of a slur referring to Mary Godwin Shelley and Clair Clairmont in the first "Extract" (page xiv). Due to its complicated printing history, The Vampyre in Viets' first and second states are virtually unattainable for modern collectors, and, accordingly, copies of Viets' third state (the second Sherwood issue) are the first truly available issues, yet still exceedingly scarce. The Vampyre is a short gothic novel that is considered the forerunner of the vampire genre; while disparate components of vampirism appeared throughout history's horror stories, Polidori was the first writer to create a cohesive vampire character - a withdrawn, aristocratic male with an insatiable thirst for blood - that would set the standard for all subsequent vampire novels. In The Vampyre, Aubrey, a wealthy, orphaned Englishman, encounters Lord Ruthven, a mysterious nobleman who is, in fact, a vampire. Although he is at first oblivious to his acquaintance's true nature, Aubrey eventually realizes that Ruthven leaves a trail of dead bodies in his wake, but not in time to save his own sister from his clutches. Polidori, Byron's personal physician, first wrote The Vampyre while traveling throughout Europe with Byron, during which time the pair stayed in Switzerland with Mary and Percy Shelley and Clair Clairmont. After reading German horror stories from the French collection Fantasmagoriana (1813), the group penned their own tales, which developed not only into Polidori's Vampyre, but also Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1823). The Vampyre was an instant commercial success, in part due to it being falsely attributed to Byron, although both Byron and Polidori denied the former's involvement.
Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Polidori, John William. The Vampyre; A Tale. Printed for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London, 1819.
Price: US$8625.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 8vo. xxv,(1),27-84pp. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones' Third Issue. Half-title is present. The 'Extract', pp. 73-84, is present. Both Extracts are sometimes attributed to John Mitford. Nicely bound to style in quarter calf, spine gilt; leather lettering label, gilt; marbled paper boards, vellum tips. A fine copy. This title has a curious bibliographic history, with first issues attributing authorship to Lord Byron, then removing Byron's name, then this issue (Viets IV), with gathering 'A' reset to 23 lines to account for the removal of a slur on Mary Godwin and Jane Clermont and with 'lmost' on page 36. Earlier issues are nearly unavailable, making this essentially the earliest printing obtainable of the first book on vampires. See Viets in PBSA LXIII (1969), 83-103.
Seller: Thorn Books, ABAA, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
POLIDORI, John William (Lord Byron). The Vampyre; A Tale.. London: John Miller, 1819., 1819.
Price: US$9750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE PIRATED PRINTING WITH BYRON'S NAME ON THE TITLE PAGE. 1 vol., 20.8mm x 13.8mm, 46pp., with the half-title, complete, extracted, internally clean and bright. Housed in a cloth clamshell box, gilt lettered black morocco spine label. OCLC locates only 8 copies in institutions. Seven in the U.S. and one in the UK. Polidori's famous story was first published in the ''New Monthly Magazine'' for April 1, 1819, shamelessly ascribed to Lord Byron, as was the first issue of the separate printing. In the May edition of New Monthly, much to the readers' surprise, a letter by Dr. John Polidori (Lord Byron's physician) was published. He acknowledged the fact that the tale was based loosely upon a story which Byron had begun and summarily abandoned, and Polidori insisted that The Vampyre was his own work. "As the contents of the New Monthly Magazine were not copyrighted in 1819, anyone was free to publish the contents without permission of the owner. John Miller of London took advantage of this lack of protection by printing an edition of "The Vampyre" independent of Henry Colburn or Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. As it was printed by J. Johnson from the magazine article, it carried the author line: "By Lord Byron." The text only was reset, omitting all the preliminaries and the appendix found in all other editions printed in London the same year." - The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America , Vol. 63, No. 2 (Second Quarter, 1969), pp. 83-100
Seller: D&D Galleries - ABAA, Somerville, NJ, U.S.A.
[Polidori, John William.]. THE VAMPYRE; A TALE. Printed for Sherwood, London, 1819.
Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [i-vii] viii-xvi [xvii-xviii-xix [xx-xxv] [xxvi] [27-84 + 12-page publisher's catalogue at rear dated "January 1819," half title leaf present; has "extract," pages 73-84, full crushed morocco front and spine stamped in gold, t.e.g., marbled endpapers with gilt stamping to interior leather edges of paste-downs. First edition, first printing. The fifth of five issues, the third with the Sherwood, Neely, and Jones imprint (preliminary leaves [pages (i)-xvi] completely reset; 23 lines instead of 24). Polidori's story was published in the 1 April 1819 number of the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE as "The Vampyre; a Tale by Lord Byron." When "The Vampyre" was being set in type by J. Gillet in March 1819 for the magazine appearance, editor Henry Colburn made arrangements to publish the story in book form. Shortly before commission of his ill-advised deception on 1 April -- knowingly attributing Polidori's tale to Byron -- Colburn turned over the sheets of the book as set up by Gillet to another London publisher, Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, in time for them to enter it at Stationer's Hall on 27 March. Colburn retained his own title leaves but the rest of the book was left intact. For the first of the Sherwood, Neely, and Jones issues, title leaves were printed attributing the story to "The Right Honourable Lord Byron" with Polidori's name omitted. This fabrication was quickly suppressed and a second issue was produced with Byron's name omitted and no attribution of authorship on the title page. A single copy of the first state of the book with the Colburn imprint and the attribution "Related by Lord Byron to Dr. Polidori" has survived; two copies of the second are recorded (CLO; BL); a single copy of Sherwood, Neely, and Jones's first issue is known (BL); this second issue is more common and was the one widely distributed for review. "Generally recognized as the first vampire story in English literature, Polidori's novella is the forerunner of the sophisticated vampirism of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla,' Bram Stoker's DRACULA, and in the twentieth century, Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE." - Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 1-304. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 147-48. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 1-79. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1323. Carter, The Vampire in Literature, pp. 23-5. Cox, The Transylvanian Library 1. Frost, The Monster with a Thousand Faces, pp. 38-9. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 328-29. Summers, A Gothic Bibliography, pp. 542-43. Bleiler (1978), p. 159. Reginald 11798. Wolff 5577. Wise, II, pp. 71-2. Viets III. Light discoloration offset to half title page and the verso of the facing flyleaf otherwise contents fine, in a fine presentation binding, with slight fade to the spine leather, done by the Rowfant Bindery for its president Willis Vickery. A lovely copy. Willis Vickery label affixed to front paste down. Now housed in a custom slipcase. (#154610)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
[Polidori, John William.]. THE VAMPYRE; A TALE. Printed for Sherwood, London, 1819.
Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [i-vii] viii-xvi [xvii-xix] xx-xxv [xxvi] [27] 28-84 + 16-page publisher's catalogue at rear dated "November 2d, 1818," half title leaf present; has "extract," pages 73-84, original unprinted drab paper wrappers, all edges untrimmed. First edition, first printing. The fourth of five issues, the second with the Sherwood, Neely, and Jones imprint (title and half title leaves reset to remove Byron's name). Polidori's story was published in the 1 April 1819 number of the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE as "The Vampyre; a Tale by Lord Byron." When "The Vampyre" was being set in type by J. Gillet in March 1819 for the magazine appearance, editor Henry Colburn made arrangements to publish the story in book form. Shortly before commission of his ill-advised deception on 1 April -- knowingly attributing Polidori's tale to Byron -- Colburn turned over the sheets of the book as set up by Gillet to another London publisher, Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, in time for them to enter it at Stationer's Hall on 27 March. Colburn retained his own title leaves but the rest of the book was left intact. For the first of the Sherwood, Neely, and Jones issues, title leaves were printed attributing the story to "The Right Honourable Lord Byron" with Polidori's name omitted. This fabrication was quickly suppressed and a second issue was produced with Byron's name omitted and no attribution of authorship on the title page. A single copy of the first state of the book with the Colburn imprint and the attribution "Related by Lord Byron to Dr. Polidori" has survived; two copies of the second are recorded (CLO; BL); a single copy of Sherwood, Neely, and Jones's first issue is known (BL); this second issue is more common and was the one widely distributed for review. "Generally recognized as the first vampire story in English literature, Polidori's novella is the forerunner of the sophisticated vampirism of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla,' Bram Stoker's DRACULA, and in the twentieth century, Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE." - Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 1-304. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 147-48. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 1-79. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1323. Carter, The Vampire in Literature, pp. 23-5. Cox, The Transylvanian Library 1. Frost, The Monster with a Thousand Faces, pp. 38-9. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 328-29. Summers, A Gothic Bibliography, pp. 542-43. Bleiler (1978), p. 159. Reginald 11798. Wolff 5577. Wise, II, pp. 71-2. Viets III. Contemporary owner's attribution to "Mrs. Shelley" on the title page. Spine panel professionally rebacked to style, very light foxing early and late, a very good or better copy overall. Enclosed in a custom cloth traycase. (#136814)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.