Horror Various authors: From the Vampire Archives. v2. 31 Oct. 2025

[GrannyGrump]

But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race…
—Byron, The Giaour

Here is an extensive collection of vampire literature, brought to you in two volumes.

Volume I: FOUNDATIONS
The vampire tales in this volume may be considered as milestones in the genre. These seminal works laid foundations for the modern vampire mythos.[

Spoiler:

A Fragment (1819), by Lord Byron.
In the summer of 1816, the famous ghost story contest between several giants of Romantic literature (Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Claire Clairmont) gave rise to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and an unfinished vampire horror story written by Lord Byron, now known as “A Fragment,” also as “The Burial: A Fragment.”
This is included here because John Polidori (Byron’s physician) based his novella, The Vampyre (which was originally falsely attributed in print to Lord Byron), on the Byron fragment.

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The Vampyre (1819), by John Polidari.
Often considered the first modern vampire story in English, this work introduced the figure of the aristocratic, predatory vampire. This is often viewed as the progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction. The work is described by Christopher Frayling as “the first story to successfully fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre.”

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Carmilla (1871), by Sheridan Le Fanu.
This predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by 26 years, and has been noted as an influence on Stoker’s masterwork. Scholars have also noted the important place that “Carmilla” holds in shifting the portrayal of vampires in modern fiction: Carmilla, the title character, is the original prototype for a legion of female and lesbian vampires.
Margery of Quether (1884), by Sabine Baring-Gould.
A vampire tale centered on its narrator, a non-gentry landowner named George Rosedhu, who discovers an ancient female vampire in the neighborhood. Although the tone is generally satirical, and frequently startles the reader into chuckles rather than chills, this story is widely considered to be a source of inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula..

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Dracula (1897), by Bram Stoker.
This is one of the most famous pieces of English literature, and has come to dominate both popular and scholarly treatments of vampire fiction. Many of the book’s characters have entered popular culture as archetypal versions of their characters; for example, Count Dracula as the quintessential vampire, and Abraham Van Helsing as an iconic vampire hunter. The novel has been adapted for film over 30 times, and its characters have made numerous appearances in virtually all media.

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Volume II: CHRONICLES
… he yet endures … she still abides …
Ninety-five short works from the Archives, encompassing 200 years, concerning the ways and wiles of the Vampire.

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I have posted a companion WEREWOLF collection.
If you have a fondness for furry fiends, please click
HERE

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Contents were originally published 1819 ~ 1897. Volume I of “From the Vampire Archives” is in the public domain worldwide because the authors died more than 100 years ago, and the works were published prior to 1930.
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