The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology

by Andrew Barger (Editor), Alexandre Dumas, J. Sheridan Le Fanu

In this International Book Awards anthology finalist, the best vampire short stories from the first half of the 19th century are unearthed from long forgotten journals and magazines. They are collected for the first time in this groundbreaking book on the origins of vampire lore. Watch the book trailer: www.AndrewBarger.com/bestvampirestori...

The cradle of all vampire short stories in the English language is the first half of the 19th century. Andrew Barger combed forgotten journals and mysterious texts to collect the very best vintage vampire stories from this crucial period in vampire literature. In doing so, Andrew found the second and third vampire stories originally published in the English language, neither printed since their first publication nearly 200 years ago. Also included is the first vampire story originally written in English by John Polidori after a dare with Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. The book contains the first vampire story by an American who was a graduate of Columbia Law School. The book further includes the first vampire stories by an Englishman and German, including the only vampire stories by such renowned authors as Alexander Dumas, Théophile Gautier and Joseph le Fanu.

As readers have come to expect from Andrew, he has added his scholarly touch to this collection by including story backgrounds, author photos and a foreword titled "With Teeth." The ground-breaking stories are:

1819 The Vampyre - John Polidori (1795-1821)
1823 Wake Not the Dead - Ernst Raupach
1848 The Vampire of the Carpathian Mountains - Alexander Dumas (1802-1870)
1839 Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter - Joseph Sheridan le Fanu (1814-1873)
1826 Pepopukin in Corsica - Arthur Young (1741-1820)
1819 The Black Vampyre: A Legend of Saint Domingo - Robert Sands (1799-1832)
1836 Clarimonde - Théophile Gautier (1811-1872)

Genres: Vampires, Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Classics, Fiction, Fantasy

206 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2012

About the author

In 2020 I uncovered the affair of Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Osgood in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Five hundred footnotes later, my book The Affair of Edgar Poe and Frances Osgood in The Scarlet Letter was published. its companion book, The Scarlet Letter: Edgar Poe and Frances Osgood Edition + Study Guide has also been published.

I am the author of "The Divine Dantes" trilogy that is a laugh-out-loud rock love story following the characters of "The Divine Comedy" in modern times.

I also penned the awarding book "Coffee with Poe: A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe's Life." The book brings America's most mysterious author and poet to life as never before. It was a finalist winner in the USA Best Book Awards. Visit my website for exclusive interviews and to buy my titles.

I edited and annotated a number of classic anthologies of short stories from the 19th century: Crypt Classics: Best 19th Century Horror Stories Annotated; Witchcraft Classics: Best Witch Stories 1800-1849; Middle Unearthed: The Best Fantasy Short Stories 1800-1849 along with Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Short Stories 1800-1849.


Best regards and Goodread(ing),
Andrew Barger

Website: http://www.AndrewBarger.com
Follow on X: @DangerousLore

Reviews

[Christine]

This is interesting collection of old - and sometimes very rare - vampire stories. Clarimonde (La morte amoureuse, 1836) by Theophile Gautier is what Twilight should have been: mad no-right-nor-wrong passion between young priest and supernaturally beautiful courtesan Clarimonde, sumptuous and elegant Romantic vampire. Brilliant Pale lady by Alexandre Dumas (writer of splendid vampire play Le vampire) is here printed as The vampire of the Carpathian mountains and it is much shorter than the version I read, with a different ending. I would like to know more about these two versions! Quite frankly, I don´t think Schalken the painter by Sheridan LeFanu was a vampire story. Heroine reminds a lot of another young bride, Fanny, in LeFanu´s "A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family" (1839). Unfortunately, Fanny was shallow, heartless little twit, showing only interest toward her future husband´s looks and not any emotion toward his (later shown) brutality toward his older, blind, possibly mad first wife (yes, he was bigamist). This kind of heroine, totally lacking the intended purity and innocence, was mocked by Mary E Wilkins Freeman in her story Luella Miller: bland and pretty young blonde Luella, who uses always pastel green rather than dramatic black or vampiric blood-red, is a low-rent vampire, a parasite who sucks other people dry!

[Nicole Moore]

I have a Master's degree in English. And because of that I imagined that I was more than familiar with the stories of the period. I was a huge fan of all things Shelley and Byron. So it was with great pleasure that I was able to come across this anthology that was filled with vampire stories I hadn't read previously written by authors I mostly had. Better still was having the story behind the tales that Barger shares. There's something about having the story behind the story that makes me feel even more learned and educated.

They are really well tied together. The tales themselves are original, in period wording and form. And it brought me back to my college days, the best of my college days when I read so much that I loved and it never felt like work. This anthology is pure enjoyment.

[Logic Boy]

A breath of old historical air I was blown away as this anthology ushered me back to the early 18th century. These bone-chilling accounts are laid out and will leave any vampire fan lusting page after page.

The founding fathers that were all but forgotten have been reincarnated by Andrew Barger. I enjoyed this book, as I will reluctantly admit I was a novice to these early accounts. However, steadfastly the author provides some cryptic accounts of some dusty old tales that were originally told. I now come away almost perplexed to think the current crowd of authors capitalizing of an apparent evolution might have gone profoundly wrong. The Best Vampire Stories for me was necessarily refreshing.

[Gothic Readers Book Club]

GOTHIC READERS BOOK CLUB CHOICE AWARD WINNER

In another from Gothic horror editor Andrew Barger, this collection explores the more specific tales of the vampire from early modern period. Ghosts were a popular theme of the Gothic literary tradition, but the undead make plenty of appearances! These stories reflect the foundation of the vampire mythos and many differ greatly from what we know as the blood-sucking monster/ lover of today. Some of these tales have not been published for over two centuries and give a fascinating insight into the beginning of the vampire legend in modern Western Europe.

If You Like: Alexander Dumas, Théophile Gautier, Joseph le Fanu

http://gothicreadersbookclub.blogspot...

[Fred Dameron]

I am very very glad that I read this collection in the afternoon. I've been shot at by the Taliban and AL-Queda almost became the victim of a PPK bombing in Incirlick Turkey, and the night after I read the first part of this collection my mind just saw lots of Vampires. I fully expect that tonight I will also see Vampires or think about them as I drift off to sleep tonight. This is a great collection. I do NOT recommend reading by a warm fire on a cold night or a campfire during the summer. Not a work you curl up with a cup of tea in the evening. But, a great read that will curl you hair and your toes.

[Allie]

This is a wonderful vampire anthology that I would highly recommend to any vampire literature lover.

[Lamprini]

MUST READ!

[Heather]

So I have a MA in English, and I've done a significant amount of work on the British Gothic tradition. Barger can have props for digging up these stories, but the critical commentary is of rather poor quality. There are various factual inaccuracies, and many of the footnotes are unnecessary or irrelevant. This book is only useful insofar as it allows a reader access to rare and obscure material.

[Andrew Barger]

My new vampire anthology that unearths the first vampire short stories published in the English language . . .