Vampire fact books


This part of the mediography lists anthologies and fact books that cover the role of vampiric beings in literature, art, mythology, etc., as well as books that actually consider the real existence of vampires.

The books are sorted alphabetically by the (first) author's (or editor's) last name.

PICTURE OF FEMALE VAMPIRE

Baring-Gould, Sabine:
[The] Book of Werewolves / Sabine Baring-Gould. - London : Smith, Elder, 1865.
As the title suggests, the focus of this excellent fact book is on werewolves. Nevertheless, it is interesting for the bibliography since it is supposedly one of the sources of information that Bram Stoker used while doing research for his novel "Dracula (1897)". From it, he took some parts for his physical description of the count, as for example Dracula having hair in the center of his palms. He also learned about the legendary "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory, who is believed to be one of the role models for the bloodthirsty count. The book is furthermore interesting in so far as it shows mythological links between the concept of the vampire and other supernatural creatures, for example in Greek folklore, which relates that werewolves turn into vampires after death, or in an oriental ghost story, which connects the vampire to the ghoul.

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen:
[The] Complete Vampire Companion : Legend and Lore of the Living Dead / Rosemary Ellen Guiley. - New York : Macmillan, 1994.
A very nice fact book featuring lots of interesting information about historical vampire myths as well as the role of vampires in various modern entertainment media.

Haining, Peter:
[The] Midnight People / Peter Haining [Editor]. - New York : Popular Library, 1968.
Good anthology of vampire stories.

McNally, Raymond T.:
In Search of Dracula : the History of Dracula and Vampires / Raymond T. McNally ; Radu Florescu. - Completely revised edition. - Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin Company; 1994.
Extremely interesting fact book about the historical Vlad "Tepes" (the Impaler) Dracula, who lived from 1431 to 1476 and was Prince of Wallachia, a region that is now a part of Romania. The first edition of this book, published by the same authors in 1972, was the first extensive work to shed light on the historical model for Bram Stoker's literary Dracula. The book additionally features information about Bram Stoker in particular as well as vampire fiction and movies in general.

Melton, J. Gordon:
[The] Vampire Book - the Encyclopedia of the Undead / J. Gordon Melton. - Completely revamped edition. - Farmington Hills, MI : Visible Ink Press, 1999.
This extremely extensive (919 pages!) and complete encyclopedia is probably the definitive reference-book for vampire topics. It has basically the answers to all those questions about vampires that you were always afraid to ask. At the same time it is written very nicely and features some pretty neat pictures, in black-and-white as well as color.

Pirie, David:
[The] Vampire Cinema / David Pirie. - New York : Crescent, 1977.
Wonderful movie book, even though it's a bit outdated by now. It presents a very detailed and thorough description of vampire movies up to 1977, illustrated with beautiful pictures in black-and-white as well as color.

Summers, Montague:
[The] Vampire in Europe - True Tales of the Undead / Montague Summers. - ? : ?, 1929.
Fact book.


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