The Vampyre; A Tale

London: for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819, 1819. FIRST EDITION THIRD ISSUE AND MICHAEL SADLEIR'S COPY. 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, still in the original stitching, all edges uncut as issued, with the original brown/gray paper wrappers, housed in a green cloth chemise in an open ended slipcase, gilt lettered spine. Paper book label of the famous book collector and bibliographer Michael Sadleir to upper inside left corner of the front wrapper, tear to inner margin (repaired) to page 79/80 otherwise internally clean and bright, paper spine worn with loss, contemporary ownership signature to front wrapper of "Jane Blackburn, Knowsley(?)" and dated 1819. Laid in is a listing for this copy from a 1932 Pickering catalog with Sadleir's brief annotation, together with a photocopy of an entry for this copy from a 1991 Jarndyce catalog. Notoriously difficult to find uncut and un-restored in original wrappers, overall a VERY GOOD copy. The first Vampire Story in English, and a seminal work of gothic horror by Polidori. 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).