Good timing!

I recently got into a discussion with one of my readers about the name of the family afflicted in the Croglin vampire case. There was a source I wanted to consult, to double-check my supposition that the 'Cranswell' name was an invention of Valentine Dyall.

That source arrived today. The source in question? F. Clive-Ross' 'The Croglin vampire', which was published in Tomorrow, vol. 11, no. 2 (1963), pp. 103–9. That article ain't easy to get, so I went ahead and ordered a copy of the journal.*

After discussing early sources for the tale, namely, Hare, Harper and Summers, Clive-Ross said the following about Dyall's contribution: 'A later writer, Valentine Dyall, in his book Unsolved Mysteries**, devotes a chapter to "The Croglin Hall Vampire," and offers much additional information, mostly without any stated authority, and unfortunately of such an unreliable nature as to be almost worthless' (p. 105).

However, Dyall's use of the Cranswell name is actually vindicated. According to Clive-Ross, who visited the area, 'It is interesting to note that the name of the brothers and their sister is still known locally, Cranswell, and it is also said that they were not local people' (p. 108). But Clive-Ross didn't disclose what their first names were, unlike Dyall.

The question is, why didn't Hare, Summers or Harper disclose their names? Were they ensuring the victim's anonymity? If so, why? Is it possible that the local tales were, at least in part, spurred on by the vampire's popularity? When Clive-Ross visited the local post office to find the way to Croglin Low Hall, the woman in charge asks him, "Are you looking for the vampire?" (p. 107). Is it possible Dyall's recount of the story actually tainted local legend? After all, he only says their names were 'known locally', not that there was any such record of their names. Indeed, Clive-Ross mentioned a variation on the legend:

Another tradition connected with the vampire involves Croglin Low Hall, and the two stories were generally repeated together. This story relates that at the time the tenants there had a three-year-old child. From being a happy, healthy child she became frightened, sickly and pale, and the parents noticed what they thought were rats teeth marks on her throat. After Miss Cranswell had been attacked new light was thrown on the child's plight, and the father was one of those who took part in the laying of the vampire (p. 108).

To confirm this thread, we need to go back to the original source, which was Augustus J.C. Hare's The story of my life, vol. 4 (London: George Allen, 1900), pp. 203–8. There is no mention of a child afflicted in this manner, the residents of the house are two brothers and their sister (the victim of the tale) and the vampire is despatched by 'all the tenants of Croglin Grange' by burning the vampire (p. 208).

Clive-Ross' article gives further background on the case, pushing it back further than the 1875 date it's commonly associated with ('Had the story really originated in 1875, as claimed by Mr. Dyall . . .' (p. 109). However, that's one myth I can bust. All you need to do is cast your eyes over to the top left-hand corner of the page:


See that date? 1874. Hare's book consists of reproduced journal entries, letters, etc. and Fisher's tale is recounted in the midst of his entry for 24 June 1874 entry (pp. 201–8). That doesn't mean the event took place that year, as Hare's source, Fisher, gives no clear date for which the events transpired. The main clue we have, is that the place was leased to the (unnamed) brothers and sister, after the Fisher family moved to 'the south, to reside at Thorncombe near Guildford' (p. 203).

Clive-Ross' article gives us a thirdhand source, 'Mrs Parkin tells me that she spoke with one of the Fisher family, who was born in the middle-eighteen-sixties, and that he told her he had known the vampire tale all his life, and originally heard it from his grandparents' (p. 108). But what was his version of the tale? Did it uphold Fisher's details? Was his version of the tale coloured by various recounts? Unfortunately, Clive-Ross doesn't say. We don't have that Fisher's name, and considering his birthdate, he'd be long-dead by now. As it stands, Hare's recount of Fisher's tale is the earliest known source of the legend, effectively serving as our default primary source.

That said, Clive-Ross' investigation has given us some fascinating details to work with, and says a lot about field research, including, 'Mrs. Parkin states that in the deeds of Croglin Low Hall the name Croglin Grange was used until about 1720' (p. 108). If you can get a hold of it, I highly recommend Clive-Ross' article to those interested in the Croglin Vampire case.

******************************

So, why 'Good timing!'? Well, a few hours ago, I went to check the mail - after already checking it this morning - to see if the mag had arrived. It was waiting for me in the letter box, so must've been delivered later in the day. Usually, I would take such items inside and carefully rip 'em open, but this time, I decided to open it in the front yard. While I was doing so, a post van drove up the driveway and a postie came out with an Amazon box. Yep, he handed me a box 'o books I'd been waiting on.

The funny thing about that is, I checked the tracking info for 'em, this morning, to see where they were. According to Amazon, they're 'in transit' and the 'latest event' gave an arrival scan for Carlstadt NJ, August 31, 2011 8:31:08 AM. To get my copy of Tomorrow and the Amazon box in that situation, was, to say the least, good timing.

In terms of what was in the box, let's take a look-see.

This particular Amazon spree was triggered after 'discovering' the critical edition of Summers' The vampire: his kith and kin. I don't see the point in ordering one book at a time from there, as separate shipping fees only add to the cost. One reason why I don't use eBay as much as I used to. That's one benefit Amazon has: I can order in bulk. You should see my wish lists.

Anyway, including Summers' book, I wound up ordering fourteen on August 29th. There was a bit of a religious undertone, this time 'round, inspired through reading of Susannah Clements' The vampire defanged (2011). I enjoy such takes, as they touch on my own spiritual background. On the flipside, there's also some skeptical and occultic works in the mix. Here's what arrived today:

Raven Kaldera, The ethical psychic vampire, 2nd edn, Ellhorn Press, Hubbardston, Mass., 2008. Price: $17.81. Dammit, I didn't realise this was a second edition. Gah. Gonna have to chase up the first one, too.

Bertena Varney, Lure of the vampire: a pop culture reference book of lists, websites, and "very telling" personal essays, The Author, Lexington, Ky., 2011. Price: $9.99.

Steve Wohlberg, The trouble with Twilight: why today's vampire craze is hazardous to your health, Destiny Image-3ABN Books, Shippensburg, Pa., 2010. Price: $10.19. Spiritual health, that is.

Joe Nickell, Real-life x-files: investigating the paranormal, The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., 2001. Price: $29.95. Bugger-all on vampires, but, going on Nickell's other stuff, should be an interesting insight into scientific paranormal investigation.

Joe Nickell, The mystery chronicles: more real-life x-files, The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., 2004. Price: $26.60. Same as above. Though I specifically got the Nickell books because he cites them in Tracking the man-beasts (2011).

Gary Hoppenstand & Ray B. Browne (eds), The Gothic world of Anne Rice, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green, Ohio, 1996. Price: $21.95. An anthology cited in Clements' work. Should be an interesting insight into Ricean vampires.

Lady CG (Barbara Clarke), Practical Vampyrism for modern Vampyres: the first handbook for modern Vampyres, Lulu, 2005. Price: $29.74. Is it? I doubt it. I got this one for novelty value as much as an insight into the 'Scene'. Also, I don't think she says 'Vampyres' enough in the title. Vampyres, Vampyres, Vampyres.

Michelle Belanger, The vampire ritual book: the lost rites of the Sanguinarium, The Author, Lexington, Ky., 2003. Price: $19.95. A spell book, essentially. I don't intend on casting any, that's for sure, so mark this one up to novelty value and building on a collection of Belanger's other works. Oh, and isn't Lexington a popular place today! Wow. One main issue I'm finding with these self-published works (Varney, Lady CG, this one), is how hard it is to source their publication details. These books would be a nightmare for cataloguers and people wanting to cite them (like me). Traditionally, publication details go on the title page. Self-publishers take note.

Angela Grace, Dark angels revealed: from dark rogues to dark romantics, the secret lives of the most mysterious & mesmerizing vampires and fallen angels from Count Dracula to Edward Cullen, Fair Winds Press, Beverly, Mass., 2011. Price: $15.59. Dark, dark, dark, dark. That title, yikes. Obviously a populist book, but may provide some insights into the whole 'bad boy' appeal with vampires.

George Beahm, Bedazzled: a book about Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight phenomenon, Underwood Books, Calif., 2009. Price: $9.56. No, I haven't turned into a Twi-Hard, but I am fascinated as to why these books have caught on as much as they have. Beahm tends to ride the pop culture train. His other books of note relate to Stephen King and Harry Potter.

Beth Felker Jones, Touched by a vampire: discovering the hidden messages in the Twilight saga, Multnomah Books, Colorado Springs, Colo., 2009. Price: $11.07. For all the talk on teenage angst, there's an angle which shouldn't be forgotten: the stories are written by a devout Mormon housewife.

Kurt Bruner, The Twilight phenomenon: forbidden fruit or thirst-quenching fantasy?, Destiny Image, Shippensburg, Pa., 2009. Price: $6.00. It's interesting to see how many Christian writers have hopped on board the franchise, themselves, even if to warn against it - or uphold its supposed spiritual values. That's how mainstream Meyers has made vampires. It's almost unprecedented.

Still waiting on two more books, one of them, ironically, is the critical edition of Summers' work, which triggered off this spree in the first place.

* Ordered on August 26th, $9.99. Fortunately, a private seller had it for sale on Amazon.

** Another source I'm gonna have to chase up. Clive-Ross notes its publication details: 'Hutchinson, 1954' (p. 105, fn. 1).

A bastard of a book to get

Although I haven't mentioned, one book I've been trying to locate for my collection is Tony Faivre's Les vampires: essai historique, critique et littéraire (1962). Hasn't been easy, but my copy arrived today.

I'll tell ya, it's not an easy book to find. Try and find it on sale. Go on. See how many copies you stumble across. If you're lucky, one might fleetingly pop up on eBay. Even Niels mentions the difficulty in tracing a copy.

I found my copy in an obvious source, Amazon.fr*, but it's not like it's always there. Indeed, I'd already tried that site before. Many times. Fortunately, a private seller had since listed a copy for EUR 44,99 (shipping: EUR 10,99). Snap.

But before the copy arrived, I was stressing out. After all, I'd ordered it on August 3rd. By the 25th, the other books I'd ordered in the same 'hit'** had arrived. That same day, I received an e-mail notification to rate the sale. So...where was my damn book? Had it been lost in transit? Was the seller yanking my chain? A fake? Had they shipped it all? Were my efforts to secure a copy, cursed? All those thoughts raced through my head as I was daily greeted by a packageless letterbox. I was so close, so very close to contacting the seller today. No more delayed delivery blues.

At this point, you might be asking, what's the deal about this book? Why so keen to get it? And to that, I'll say it's a very important book in the field. Firstly, it was published at a time where vampire books were quite rare. The only other major works at the time were Roland Villeneuve's Loup-garou et vampires (1960), Ornella Volta and Valerio Riva's anthology I vampiri tra noi (1960), Emilio de' Rossignoli's Io credo nei vampiri (1961) and Volta's Le vampire (1962).

Volta's 1962 book, as well as Faivre's kicked off serious study of the subject. However, Faivre's contribution is given greater acknowledgement. How important was it? Massimo Introvigne, president of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula's Italian chapter, calls him the 'father of contemporary vampire studies.' High praise, indeed.

Antoine 'Tony' Faivre is still kickin', too. He has made other contributions to vampire scholarship, including an essay for Les vampires: Colloque de Cerisy (1993), but certainly nothing as significant as his 1962 book. He briefly discusses writing it in this interview.

If you're keen on scoring your own copy, I can tell you there's three copies available on PrinceMinister; as long as you know how to navigate yourself around a French website.

* Which I ordered during one of my patented Amazonian spending sprees. I also purchased Michaël [Michael] Ranft's De Masticatione mortuorum in tumulis: de la mastication des morts dans leurs tombeaux 1728 (EUR 7,54) and Alain Pozzuoli's La bible Dracula: dictionnaire du vampire (EUR 20,62). But the book that actually triggered the spree was Daniela Soloviova-Horville's Les vampires: du folklore slave à la littérature occidentale (EUR 30,17). Finding Faivre's book was sweet serendipity.

** See above.

Getting Glut's book

I've finally got a first edition copy of Donald F. Glut's True vampires of history (1971), thanks to the magic of eBay.


I'd previously bought reprints of it by Castle Books (Secaucus, N.J.). However, I'm a stickler for first editions, so I had to find a copy of the HC Publishers, Inc. (New York) original.

How far did I go in my quest? I resorted to contacting its author. It was never that easy growing up, I'll tell ya. I sent him a cheque last year (Don doesn't 'do' PayPal), but it never arrived.

I got the urge to go trawling through eBay recently and lo, I serendipitously found a copy for US$9. This time, I doublechecked its publication info with the seller. After confirming a positive ident, I made an offer of five bucks. Not for the hell of it, mind you, but based on the book's condition:

Up for auction is a 1971 True Vampires of History Donald Glut Book. The paperback book is complete and nicely held together. The book has been in storage and it has rolling and warping from age. The pages and cover are yellowing. There is creasing at the corners of the cover and along the bottom of the back. The pages have rounded corners and a few have creases at the corners. The book also has creasing along the spine, and light wear and peeling around the edges. The book has 191 pages.

The seller accepted my offer. I purchased it on 16 June; it arrived on the 27th. Not bad. Incidentally, if you're interested in buying a copy of the book, feel free to contact Don. He'll probably even sign it for you, if you ask nicely. I would've gotten my copy from him, if there wasn't that hassle with the cheque. However, if you're a US resident, you probably won't encounter the same problem I did.

Rare Vampire Book Cover

I've been engaged in trying to solve "The Fischer Mystery" (to be covered in an upcoming entry). One of my discarded leads caused me to stumble upon a rare image.

That's the cover of Wilhem Fischer's Dämonische Mittelwesen, Vampir und Werwolf (Stuttgart: Strecker and Schröder, 1906).

Early 20th century non-fiction vampire books are quite sparse. Off the top of my head, I can only add Stefan Hock's Die Vampyrsagen und ihre Verwertung in der deutschen Litteratur (1900) and A. Osborne Eaves' Modern Vampirism: Its Dangers, and How to Avoid Them (1904) to the list. Dudley Wright helped get the ball rolling in 1914, and even then, it was still slim pickings till Montague Summers hit the scene.

Croglin Vampire Picture Source Revealed!

You've probably seen the following picture floating about the 'net and maybe in a few books. You might've wondered who illustrated it and why. I'm here to tell you.

I was googlin' info on the Croglin Vampire today, when I came across Darren Turpin's blog entry (click on the picture). I'd seen the image several times before, not giving much thought to its source. It actually appears on the front cover of Manuela Dunn-Mascetti's Chronicles of the Vampire (London: Bloomsbury, 1991).

Thanks to Turpin's lead, I can tell you that it was illustrated by Les Edwards in 1984. It's titled (and depicts) "The Croglin Vampire". You've probably heard of that case before, as it's a frequently-reproduced "true" vampire tale. If you're unfamiliar with it, this article gives a pretty good summation. As to the why of this superb illustration, here's the scoop from Edwards' website:

Originally commissioned by Wiedenfeld & Nicholson but not used. Later used as a bookcover for Best New Horror 1990, edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell and published by Robinson, and on Super-Monsters by Daniel Cohen, published by Archway. Also used on the CD cover Alive & Screaming by Krokus and a German Magazine.

Kreuter Goss

I've been in contact with Dr. Peter Mario Kreuter of the Südost-Institut, concerning his writings on vampires. He relayed some very interesting information to me, which I'll be sharing with you, today.

He's best known for his University of Bonn dissertation, Der Vampirglaube in Südosteuropa. Studien zur Genese, Bedeutung und Funktion. Rumänien und der Balkanraum (2001). If you'd like to know more about his writings, check out Niels' coverage. Suffice it to say, Kreuter's focus is on folkloric and 18th century representations of the vampire. My favourite field!

However, if you're hampered by an inability to speak or read German (like myself), then you might be wondering whether there'll be an English translation of this work. So, I e-mailed him to find out.¹ Unfortunately, I was somewhat disheartened by his reply: "No – there is no translation. And there will be none."² However, my dismay was countered by something I wasn't expecting: "I’m writing a new book about the popular vampire belief. It will be in English, and the publishing house shall be Palgrave Macmillan."³

So, you heard it first here, kids! He's got a new book on the way, and it's gonna be in English! Hell yes! But, as to its title or when it'll be ready, well, I can't say. Not because I've been "shushed", but that's all the info I could get. It's obviously too early to call if it's still in "writing" stage. Nonetheless, keep your eyes peeled for it. I'm sure it'll be great!

At some point, you also probably wondered, "Hang on...if Anthony says he can't read or write German, then how can he vouch for Kreuter's work?" That's a fair point. But, what I've neglected to mention, is that I have read a couple of his essays—both in English.


Namely, "The Name of the Vampire: Some Reflections on Current Linguistic Theories on the Etymology of the Word Vampire" in Vampires: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006), pp. 57-63 and "The Role of Women in Southeast European Vampire Belief" in Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History (London: I. B. Taurus, 2007), pp. 231-241.

Then, check out his daunting list of publications. What can I say? The guy clearly knows his stuff. His English writings provide an insight into what we're sorely deprived of in English-language books on the genre: authors consulting non-English sources. There are a few notable exceptions, of course (hats off to Barber, McClelland and Perkowski), but they're far and few between. I'm telling ya, there's a goldmine out there. I've rambled on about it before.

Hopefully, Kreuter's book isn't gonna be too overshadowed by the commercial "taint" that affect other works in the genre. You know, the same-old Vlad Dracula/Bathory/Bram Stoker blah-di-blah-blah stuff. His expertise and access to outside sources would be terribly wasted, otherwise. No pressure, Peter!

¹ "Der Vampirglaube in Südosteuropa", Thursday, 7 October 2010 2:47:08 AM.
² "AW: Der Vampirglaube in Südosteuropa", ‏Tuesday, 12 October 2010 3:36:55 AM.
³ Ibid.

Examining Roumanian Superstitions

The origin of the word, nosferatu, has been a contentious topic with scholars. Emily Gerard (1849-1905) is generally considered to be the earliest author to use the term. However, a source pre-dating her work is dealt with in a certain vampire dictionary. Let's take a look at it.

I know Wikipedia's reliability as an information source is roundly criticised, but their nosferatu page gave me an invaluable paper trail. Take this sentence: "Peter Haining identifies an earlier source for nosferatu as 'Roumanian Superstitions (1861)' by Heinrich von Wlislocki." The source is identified as Peter Haining's A Dictionary of Vampires (London: Robert Hale, 2000). As it happens, I own a copy of this book. Here's the relevant extract:

In his book, Roumanian Superstitions (1861), the distinguished historian, Heinrich von Wlislocki has provided probably the definitive statement on its activities: 'The Nosferatu not only sucks the blood of sleeping people, but also does mischief as an Incubus or Succubus. It is the stillborn, illegitimate child of two people who are similarly illegitimate. It is hardly put under the earth before it awakes to life and leaves its grave never to return. It visits people by night and when its sex is male, it visits women; when female, men.' (184-185)

I was unable to find any trace of this von Wlislocki book anywhere. At this point, serendipity stepped into the picture. You see, I was reading Margaret L. Carter's Shadow of a Shade: A Survey of Vampirism in Literature (New York: Gordon Press, 1975) on Friday. No particular reason. But boy did my eyes light up when I came across this:

Rumania is the home of the Nosferat, the name applied (not quite accurately) to Count Dracula by his creator. A Nosferat, reports Heinrich von Wlislocki (quoted in Ernest Jones' On the Nightmare) is the "stillborn, illegitimate child of two people who are similarly illegitimate." (2)

Carter gives a more complete listing of her source in her book's "Notes" section: "Ernest Jones, On the Nightmare (New York: Liveright Publishing Corp., 1951, c1931), p. 117" (148).

Was it possible that Haining quoted von Wlislocki via Jones? This assumption would be pretty hard to establish as fact, as Haining's Dictionary doesn't contain a bibliography. So, that left me with the option of consulting Jones' book, instead.

Thankfully, I have a copy of it. The original, in fact, not the reprint Carter cites. I'd downloaded it from Internet Archive on February 5, 2009. Here's what Jones' On the Nightmare (London: Hogarth Press, 1931) has to say:

Heinrich von Wlislocki, in his researches into Roumanian superstitions, tells us: 'Der Nosferat saugt nicht nur schlafender Menschen Blut, sondern stiftet auch als Inkubus-Succuba Unheil. Der Nosferat ist das totgeborene uneheliche Kind zweier Leute, die beide ebenfalls uneheliche Kinder sind. Kaum wird das von solcher Mutter und solchem Vater stammende uneheliche und totgeborene Kind in der Erde verscharrt, so erwacht es zum Leben, entsteigt seinem Grabe und kehrt nicht mehr dahin zurück. Als schwarze Katze, als schwarzer Hund, als Käfer, Schmetterling oder auch bios als Strohhalm besucht es nachts die Menschen; wenn es männlichen Geschlechts ist: die Frauen; wenn es weiblichen Geschlechts ist: die Männer (117).

If you can't read German (like me), that's ok, because Jones also supplies an English translation:

The Nosferat not only sucks the blood of sleeping people, but also does mischief as an Incubus or Succubus. The Nosferat is the still-born, illegitimate child of two people who are similarly illegitimate. It is hardly put under the earth before it awakes to life and leaves its grave never to return. It is hardly put under the earth before it awakes to life and leaves its grave never to return. It visits people by night in the form of a black cat, a black dog, a beetle, a butterfly or even a simple straw. When its sex is male, it visits women; when female, men. (117)

The similarity between Jones' translation and Haining's quote from von Wlislocki, is too obvious to dismiss. But, unlike Haining, Jones directly cites his source: "Quoted by Stern, op. cit. Bd. i. S. 357, 358" (117).

So, who was this Stern bloke? Once again, Jones told me. Firstly in his "Index of Authors" (356) and then in a previous footnote: "B. Stern, Medizin, Aberglaube und Geschlechtsleben in der Türkei, 1903, Bd. i. S. 364, 365" (102 n4).

Some light googlin' turned up a more thorough citation: Bernhard Stern's Medizin, Aberglaube und Geschlechtsleben in der Türkei. Mit Berücksichtigung der moslemischen Nachbarländer und der ehemaligen Vasallenstaaten. Band 1 (Berlin: H. Barsdorf, 1903). Incidentally, "Band" is German for "Volume".

Would Stern's book tell us the von Wlislocki source? Once again, Internet Archive came to the rescue. His bibliography has the following citation: "„Quälgeister im Volksglauben der Rumänen", von Heinrich von Wlislocki.. ,.Urquell" 1896" (24).

Thanks to the Wikipedia entry, I had already come across mentions of this article in David J. Skal's Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen, rev. ed. (2004). I don't have a copy of this book. Thankfully, Google Books has "previews" of it. Which is why I can tell you that it includes "an excerpt from Wlislocki's article 'Torturing Spirits in Romanian Popular Belief' from the German periodical Am Ur-Quell ("At the Primary Source"), vol. 6, 1896, pp. 108-109" (80-81), which was translated and researched by Lokke Heiss and Andrea Kirchhartz. So, to come full circle, here's a section of their translation which ties in with the previous sources (except Haining's):

The most dangerous torturing spirit of Romanian folklore, which not only sucks sleeping people's blood but also plays a dangerous part as incubus and succubus is the Nosferat. According to popular belief, the Nosferat is the illegitimate child of two people who are illegitimate themselves. The Nosferat is born dead, but after burial awakens to life and never returns to his grave, but assumes different shapes. One moment he appears as a black dog, now as a beetle, now as a butterfly, yea, even now as a straw. In these shapes he visits people at night; if he is of the male sex, women; if female, she pays her visit to men. (80-81)

And this is where I've come up against a brick wall. As of this writing, I haven't been able to access a copy of von Wilslocki's "Quälgeister im Volksglauben der Rumänen". That's where I've hit a dead-end with the Internet Archive and Google Books. So, I can't tell you whether or not von Wlislocki's article, in turn, came from an earlier source. But, let's say I'm highly doubtful.

For starters, Heinrich von Wlislocki (1856-1907) would've been five years old when Haining clams Roumanian Superstitions (1861) was published. Thus, I'm left with three possibilities:

1. Haining misunderstood Jones' ambiguous comment about von Wlislocki's "researches into Roumanian superstitions".
2. Haining obtained the misattributed quote from another dodgy source.
3. Haining fabricated the source.

I'm hesistant to accept the last option, although, it doesn't help that Haining (1940-2007) obviously transposed von Wlislocki's "Nosferat" to "Nosferatu". Nor does it help that Haining's book contains no bibliography. A mere book title (which, incidentally, I haven't even been able to trace) isn't good enough. Yet, I'm also fairly convinced that this book doesn't exist, anyway.

If I do get my hands on a copy of von Wlislocki's article, I'll let you know if it cites publication in an earlier work. However, the periodical's title ("At the Primary Source") seems more like an omen than a glimmer of hope.

Another Vampire Encyclopaedia on the Way!

Theresa Bane's Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology, which I last covered here, is still a while away from general release (originally slated for June, but looks like it'll be out in March).

In the meantime, I've just come across references to another addition to the vampire encyclopaedia genre.

But it's not by her.

I stumbled across this newbie while I was looking up info relating to Ronald Foust's "Rite of Passage: The Vampire Tale as Cosmogonic Myth" (1986). This lead me to Matt Cardin's blog entry, "What I Read in 2009".

I was scanning the entry for other vampire stuff, when I came across this little tidbit in his biographic entry on the sidebar:

He is also a successful freelance blogger, consultant, and copywriter, and will contribute several entries, including an examination of vampires and religion, to the forthcoming reference work "Encyclopedia of the Vampire: The Living Dead in Myth, Legend, and Popular Culture," edited by S.T. Joshi.

I hurriedly went a-Googlin' for the book.

The first page in the search was Stephen Jones' upcoming works, which reveals his contribution to it is an entry called "Vampires in Television". The publication date given is 2010 and he (courteously) lists the publisher: "ABC-CLIO, USA".

I checked out their website, which strangely has no listing for the book.

It's not even listed in Amazon.

But, I've also found that a bloke named Bev Vincent will also be contributing to the book (he's got four entries) and that Matt Cardin's webpage contradicts Jones' reference to the publisher. He lists it as Greenwood Press.

Yet, Greenwood Press' website has no listing for the book, either. Very odd.

Time to check out Joshi, himself.

In doing so, I found another contributor, Lisa Kroger, and also...Joshi's blog.

Here's what he has to say about the book in his news section, 12 December 2009:

I am currently working on a number of projects. Nearly complete is The Encyclopedia of the Vampire, a one-volume project commissioned by Greenwood Press (www.greenwood.com). It will contain entries, ranging from 250 words to 3000 words, on all aspects of vampirism in literature, history, media, and culture, with important contributions by Paula Guran, Elizabeth Miller, James Holte, Joyce Jesionowski, Tony Fonseca, and many others. The book is a little late, but I am still hopeful that it can appear in late 2010.

As you might be able to tell, I'm quite excited about this upcoming work.

Joshi is a well-respected literary critic of fantasy literature (mainly focusing on H. P. Lovecraft), so this is almost-certainly gonna be a brilliant project.

Can't wait!

Staked Vampire Picture Source Revealed

In Daniel Farson's Mysterious Monsters (1978), there's a picture of a vampire with a stake embedded in its heart, the origin of which, I've never been able to locate.

It also appears in his earlier work, The Supernatural: Vampires, Zombies, and Monster Men (The Danbury Press, n.d. Originally published by Aldus Books, 1975) on page 22. The source given is vague ("22(BL) The Bettmann Archive", p. 144). The Bettmann Archive itself, only yields this info: "Engraving of the Death of a Vampire. PG6298| RM| © Bettmann/CORBIS."

The same image is replicated (albeit, in a highly manipulated form) on the front of the dust jacket to Wayne Bartlett & Flavia Idriceanu's Legends of Blood: The Vampire in History and Myth (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2005). The credit given on the back of the dust jacket is "engraving of Death of a Vampire (© Bettmann/CORBIS)".

However, I can now happily report that thanks to the wonders of eBay, I now know the title and artist of the picture!

While thoroughly browsing through it yesterday, I came across an entry headed, "Rare MONSTERS & MADONNAS William Mortensen 1948".

I was curious about its contents. So, with absolutely no intent of finding the image there (I was actually looking for books on vampires), I decided to have a browse.

And wouldn't you know it? Staring at me about midway in the page, in sepia-tone, was the image I've known for many years! It even had a link to a scan of the image.

Talk about serendipity.

It turns out the picture, called "The Vampire", was originally drawn by William Mortensen, and published in his 1936 folio, Monsters & Madonnas: A Book of Methods.

The edition being sold, by tinkerstale, is the fourth printing (1948) of the first edition.

If you'd like to know more about the book, have a read of Cary Loren's guest article, "Monsters and Madonnas - Looking at William Mortensen" for Will's Journey Round My Skull.

However, I am left with a bit of a mystery.

The image, as reproduced in Farson's books, are in colour.

I can only presume they were tinted by the books' designers or that Mortensen's original was in colour too. Or that Mortensen himself, obtained it elsewhere...

Hats Off to Erwin

I was rather pleased to see a comment left on one of my posts, recently.

Although, I was a tad alarmed at the message itself:

It seems that the picture a woman killing herself by being crushed by her husband's tombstone. That's what the caption says in Dutch.
See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kintzertorium/3090689838/

Taken out of context (and keeping in mind, that I didn't immediately see which post it had been submitted to, before approving it for publication), it seemed irrelevant to this blog.

That is, until I viewed the link. For curiousity's sake, of course.

And boy, did that pay off!

The link in question leads to a certain image dealt with in "Bad Captions" and "A Note on Bad Captions". Except, it appears to be a scan of the original image!

You might remember that in Frayling's book, a reproduction of the image was captioned:

A vampire rises from the grave, illustrating an early eighteenth century treatise on the undead.

Fortunately, the owner of the Flickr account (Kintzertorium) has retained the original's caption, which appears to read:

BIANCA RUBEA, Gemalinne van BAPTISTA Á PORTA Verplenert zig met de Graf zark van haar Man.

A commentator on the image, by the name of groenling, has even translated the caption into English:

"BIANCA RUBEA [her maiden name, I assume], wife of BAPTISTA Á PORTA / crushes herself with the tombstone of her husband."

At this point, I think it's fairly safe to say that the image does not depict a vampire.

The question is, who's responsible for mislabeling it in that manner?

The author? The publisher? The designer?

Now that'll be interesting to find out...

Oh, and Erwin, if you're reading: I really appreciated that link! Much appreciated indeed!

Bad Captions

Yesterday, I was in the Rare Books Collection reading room at Monash University Library (Clayton), having a browse through Ornella Volta's Le Vampire: La Mort, le Sang, la Peur (Paris: Jean-Jaques Pauvert Éditeur, 1962).

When I came to page 26, I noticed a picture I had seen elsewhere.

I immediately thought of a plate (3) in Christopher Frayling's Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula (London: Faber and Faber, 1992).

The difference, however, is in the way they're captioned.

In Volta's book, the image is credited thusly:

Jan Luiken : Bianca Rubea, 1711.
Coll. Henry Kahnweiler

Meanwhile, Frayling's version reads:

A vampire rises from the grave, illustrating an early eighteenth century treatise on the undead.

And sure enough, if we turn to Frayling's "Bibliography and Acknowledgements", we get a reference to a certain source consulted for his book:

On the erotic angle, Ornella Volta's Il Vampiro (1962) is interesting (if a little strange at times) and has some extraordinary illustrations (p. 424)

However, the riddle doesn't quite end there.

I thought it'd be easy to trace Bianca Rubea as a novel. Thus far, I haven't been able to trace anything by that name.

I've been able to track down Luiken (or Luyken, 1649-1712) easily enough, though. Turns out he was a Dutch engraver. But the only books I've been able to turn up, that fit the year Volta's caption gives (1711), are: De bykorf des gemoeds and Het leerzaam huisraad.[1]

Rest assured, these are not treatises of the "undead". Indeed, Luiken never illustrated any such treatise.

Looks like Faber and Faber and Frayling tried to pull the wool over our eyes!

[1] "Jan Luyken". DBNL auteur. 1 August 2008.