CNU Library Blog

Polidori: Doctor & Vampire Fiction Writer

Left: John William Polidori. Right: A copy of The Vampyre, for which Lord Byron was falsely given credit. Polidori is now recognized as the author of The Vampyre. 

Happy birthday, Dr. John William Polidori! In 1816, Polidori became Lord Byron's personal physician. The two became friends with Mary Shelley and her husband Percy, and the group began writing macabre, horror stories. Mary Shelley's "The Monster" remains famous and iconic today. One of Byron's short stories became the basis of Polidori's longer book, The Vampyre. For years, authorship of this book was incorrectly attributed to Byron, who tried to correct the mistake and publish his own stories. 

You can read The Vampyre online for free through Project Gutenberg! Yay, internet! 

• "The Vampyre" by John William Polidori (Available to read online -- thanks, Project Gutenberg!) 
• Wikipedia: John William Polidori
• Goodreads: John William Polidori
• Goodreads: The Vampyre (A review) 
• The Guardian: Polidori's vampire (A review) 
• Love Vampires: The Vampyre -- notice that this source is all about vampire fiction -- I love it. People reading and writing on this blog will know more about vampire fiction than the average person, and have important opinions to consider. To even out this research, I've also linked reviews on more common sources like The Guardian and Goodreads. 
• London Remembers: John William Polidori