# Carmilla (1871)

> Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, first published Dec 1871 – Mar 1872: publication record, synopsis, a verified quotation and sources.

Canonical page: https://lineageofshadows.com/works/carmilla/

Title: Carmilla
Author: Sheridan Le Fanu
Form: Novella
First appearance: Dec 1871 – Mar 1872 (timeline year 1871)
Themes: The undead, Sexuality and desire, Women in peril, The double

## Publication record

- Serial, Dec 1871 – Mar 1872: The Dark Blue. Four monthly instalments: December 1871 (vol. 2, no. 10, from p. 434), January 1872, February 1872 and, with the 'Conclusion', March 1872 (vol. 3, no. 13). Illustrated; the scanned February and March numbers credit D. H. Friston, and the Victorian Web credits M. Fitzgerald for the 1871-72 magazine edition. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
- Volume, 1872: Richard Bentley & Son, London (3 vols). Reprinted in In a Glass Darkly, 3 vols (Bentley, 1872), with a prologue in which Dr Martin Hesselius annotates the narrative. [6, 7]

## Synopsis

Laura, the daughter of an English father and a Styrian mother, is raised in a remote Styrian castle and is lonely until a carriage accident leaves a mysterious girl of her own age, Carmilla, in her father's care. The two grow intensely close. In the villages nearby, peasants are dying of a wasting illness, Laura's dreams turn strange, and Carmilla keeps odd hours and slips away from hymns. An old general whose ward has died in the same fashion arrives with a theory, and a trail that leads to the ruined chapel of the extinct Karnstein family.

## Setting

Undated; told as the narrator's recollection of events some years earlier. Places: a lonely schloss in Styria; the ruined village of Karnstein; the Karnstein chapel [7]

## From the text

> Yes, very—a cruel love—strange love, that would have taken my life. Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood.

Chapter 6 (A Very Strange Agony). Project Gutenberg ebook #10007: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10007 (Gutenberg #10007 text (the In a Glass Darkly form, with the Hesselius prologue))

## Facts

- Carmilla ran in four instalments of The Dark Blue, a short-lived monthly magazine: December 1871 (opening on page 434), January 1872 and February 1872 in volume 2, and March 1872 in volume 3, where it closes with a chapter headed 'Conclusion'. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- In the magazine the tale begins directly at 'Chapter I. An Early Fright' with no mention of Dr Hesselius in any of the four scanned numbers; the Hesselius prologue is the framing added when the story was reprinted in In a Glass Darkly (3 vols, Bentley, 1872). [1, 4, 6]
- The Gutenberg text keeps the prologue and sixteen chapters, from 'An Early Fright' to 'Conclusion'; in chapter 6 the title character speaks the line 'Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood.' [7]
- The Victorian Web calls Carmilla 'one of the sources of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897)', and the Irish Times says it 'greatly influenced' Stoker and predates Dracula by some 25 years. [6, 8]

## Threads in

- In the tradition of: [The Vampyre](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-vampyre/): Sam George traces the line of aristocratic vampires from Polidori's Lord Ruthven and names Le Fanu's Countess Mircalla Karnstein among those who follow him; a place in that tradition, not a documented borrowing from The Vampyre. [9]

## Threads out

- Leads to: [Dracula](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/dracula/). The Victorian Web calls Carmilla 'one of the sources of Bram Stoker's Dracula', and Franck and Beresford report that Stoker's 1890 notes set the story in Styria, the setting of Carmilla (and that the Styrian vampiress of 'Dracula's Guest' owes much to it, per Auerbach). [6, 10, 8]

## Notes on dates and attribution

- Victorian Web (Cooke) calls In a Glass Darkly 'posthumous'; Le Fanu died on 7 February 1873 (DNB) and the three volumes are dated 1872, so the book appeared in his lifetime.
- Dating the work: the serial ran December 1871 to March 1872 and the book is dated 1872. The anchor year follows the first appearance, 1871. Day of issue of each Dark Blue number is not given in the scans' front matter, so months are shown.

## Sources

1. The Dark Blue, vol. 2 no. 10, December 1871: opening instalment of 'Carmilla' by Sheridan Le Fanu (scan, p. 434 ff.). Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm collection). https://archive.org/details/sim_dark-blue_1871-12_2_10 (accessed 2026-10-09)
2. The Dark Blue, vol. 2 no. 11, January 1872: second instalment of 'Carmilla' (scan). Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm collection). https://archive.org/details/sim_dark-blue_1872-01_2_11 (accessed 2026-10-09)
3. The Dark Blue, vol. 2 no. 12, February 1872: third instalment of 'Carmilla', drawn by D. H. Friston (scan). Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm collection). https://archive.org/details/sim_dark-blue_1872-02_2_12 (accessed 2026-10-09)
4. The Dark Blue, vol. 3 no. 13, March 1872: final instalment of 'Carmilla' with 'Conclusion' (scan). Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm collection). https://archive.org/details/sim_dark-blue_1872-03_3_13 (accessed 2026-10-09)
5. Simon Cooke, 'Ambiguous Alternations': A Note on Mirroring, Symmetry, Doubling and the Uncanny Effects of Le Fanu's 'Carmilla'. The Victorian Web. https://victorianweb.org/authors/lefanu/carmilla.html (accessed 2026-10-09)
6. Simon Cooke, 'An Introduction to the Life and Work of J. S. Le Fanu' (bibliography lists In a Glass Darkly, 3 vols, London: Bentley 1872). The Victorian Web. https://victorianweb.org/authors/lefanu/intro.html (accessed 2026-10-09)
7. Carmilla (Project Gutenberg ebook 10007). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10007 (accessed 2026-10-09)
8. Sheridan Le Fanu's haunting legacy (2014; born in Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, on August 28th; Carmilla greatly influenced Bram Stoker). The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/sheridan-le-fanu-s-haunting-legacy-1.1907652 (accessed 2026-10-09)
9. Sam George, 'Fantasmagoria: Polidori's Vampyre from theatricals to vampire-slaying kits'. University of Hertfordshire Research Archive. https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/id/eprint/12624/1/SG_Fantasmagoria.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09)
10. Banishing the Beast: The Role of the Wolf in 'Dracula's Guest' and Its Omission from Dracula (Franck and Beresford), Supernatural Studies vol. 2 no. 2. Supernatural Studies. https://www.supernaturalstudies.com/previous-journal-issues/vol-2-issue-2/franck-and-beresford (accessed 2026-10-09)