# The Vampyre (1819)

> The Vampyre by John Polidori, first published 1 Apr 1819: publication record, synopsis, a verified quotation and sources.

Canonical page: https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-vampyre/

Title: The Vampyre; a Tale
Author: John Polidori
Attribution: Published in the New Monthly Magazine as 'The Vampyre: a Tale by Lord Byron' and in a first book printing that also pointed to Byron; Polidori wrote it, and both he and Byron said so. Colburn inferred Byron's authorship from a letter forwarding the manuscript, and Polidori's disclaimer appeared in the May 1819 issue.
Form: Short story
First appearance: 1 Apr 1819 (timeline year 1819)
Themes: The undead, The supernatural, Women in peril

## Publication record

- Story, 1 Apr 1819: The New Monthly Magazine, Henry Colburn, London. First appearance, in the number dated April 1, 1819 (No. 63), attributed to Lord Byron. Polidori's letter disclaiming the attribution ran in the number dated May 1, 1819. [1, 2, 3]
- Volume, 1819: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, London (Paternoster Row) (1 vol.). Book printing entered at Stationers' Hall on 27 March 1819 according to its title page; the Gutenberg copy names John William Polidori as author and includes the 'Extract of a Letter from Geneva' and the Introduction. Six London editions are dated 1819. [4, 3, 5]

## Synopsis

In a London winter, the wealthy orphan Aubrey notices Lord Ruthven, a nobleman whose dead grey eye and ashen face chill every drawing room he enters. They set out together for the Continent, and in Rome Aubrey sees how Ruthven ruins the people he helps, so the two part. In Athens, Aubrey falls in love with a Greek girl, Ianthe, who is found dead. Ruthven turns up again, is mortally wounded by brigands, and binds Aubrey with an oath to say nothing of him for a year and a day. Back in England, Ruthven reappears alive, and is courting Aubrey's sister.

## Setting

Contemporary with its publication (the Regency); no date is given in the text. Places: London; Rome; Athens; Smyrna [4]

## From the text

> the dead grey eye, which, fixing upon the object's face, did not seem to penetrate, and at one glance to pierce through to the inward workings of the heart;

Opening of the tale. Project Gutenberg ebook #6087: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087 (The 1819 book printing for Sherwood, Neely and Jones as digitised by Gutenberg (names Polidori as author), not the New Monthly Magazine text; line breaks joined)

## Facts

- The Vampyre came out of the same ghost-story contest at Cologny near Geneva in June 1816 that produced Frankenstein: Byron began a vampire tale he abandoned, and Polidori later wrote his own story from the idea. [6, 4, 3]
- It appeared in the New Monthly Magazine number dated 1 April 1819 as 'The Vampyre; a Tale by Lord Byron', and in the number dated 1 May 1819 a letter from Polidori said the correspondent who had attributed the tale to Byron in the 'Letter from Geneva' was mistaken. [1, 2]
- Byron's own fragment of a vampire tale was published only in 1819, after The Vampyre had been circulating for months; by then Polidori's story had six London editions dated 1819, translations into French and German, and a London stage adaptation in 1820. [3, 7]
- About thirty-five stage versions of the story were mounted across Europe and America in the nineteenth century, and Goethe is reported to have called it Byron's masterpiece. [3]

## Threads in

- Shares an origin with: [Frankenstein](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/frankenstein/): Both grew from the ghost-story contest proposed by Byron at Cologny in June 1816; the 1819 printing's 'Extract of a Letter from Geneva' says the tales were undertaken by Lord B., the physician, and Miss M. W. Godwin, with a note that her tale was since published as Frankenstein. [4, 6, 8]
- Descends from: Byron's 'Fragment of a Novel' (Augustus Darvell), 1816: The DNB and Rossetti say Polidori knew Byron had begun a vampire tale in June 1816 and developed the theme himself; Polidori's own letter says the groundwork was Byron's but the development his. [7, 6, 3]
- Descends from: Fantasmagoriana (German ghost stories in French translation): The Extract of a Letter from Geneva says the company read a German work called Phantasmagoriana before agreeing to write supernatural tales. [4, 6]

## Threads out

- Its tradition continues in: [Carmilla](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/carmilla/). 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]
- Leads to: [Varney the Vampire](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/varney-the-vampire/). Sam George calls Polidori's aristocratic vampire a figure 'later reincarnated as Sir Frances Varney', and notes that Varney alone among later vampires keeps Polidori's link between the vampire and the moon through repeated lunar resurrections. [9]

## Notes on dates and attribution

- Title page of the Sherwood book edition: Wikipedia says it named Byron; the Gutenberg file of the Sherwood, Neely and Jones printing names Polidori. More than one printing or issue evidently exists; the Gutenberg wording is recorded as observed.
- Whether Colburn's attribution to Byron was deliberate: dealers call it a 'conscious fraud'; Rossetti argues Colburn inferred it from the forwarding letter. Not stated as fact.
- Stage adaptations (about 35) and Goethe's remark come from the Washington University article only.

## Sources

1. The New Monthly Magazine, No. 63, Vol. XI, dated April 1, 1819 (issue scan; prints 'The Vampyre; a Tale by Lord Byron'). Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm). https://archive.org/details/sim_new-monthly-magazine_1819-04-01_11_63 (accessed 2026-10-09)
2. The New Monthly Magazine, No. 64, Vol. XI, dated May 1, 1819 (issue scan; prints Polidori's letter disclaiming the tale). Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm). https://archive.org/details/sim_new-monthly-magazine_1819-05-01_11_64 (accessed 2026-10-09)
3. 200 Years On, 'The Vampyre' Still Thrills. Washington University in St. Louis, Arts & Sciences. https://humanities.washu.edu/node/16816 (accessed 2026-10-09)
4. The Vampyre; a Tale, by John William Polidori (Gutenberg ebook 6087; the 1819 book printing for Sherwood, Neely and Jones, with the 'Extract of a Letter from Geneva' and Introduction). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6087/pg6087.txt (accessed 2026-10-09)
5. The Vampyre; a Tale (1819 editions), dealer catalogue note. Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA). https://www.pbfa.org/books/the-vampyre-a-tale-1 (accessed 2026-10-09)
6. The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, ed. William Michael Rossetti (1911); editor's Introduction reprints Polidori's letter to Colburn and 1821 press reports, with the diary entry for 17 June 1816 (Gutenberg ebook 55017). Project Gutenberg (Elkin Mathews, 1911 edition). https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/55017/pg55017.txt (accessed 2026-10-09)
7. Polidori, John William, Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900. Dictionary of National Biography, via Wikisource. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Polidori,_John_William (accessed 2026-10-09)
8. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1831 text with the author's new Introduction (Gutenberg ebook 42324; Colburn & Bentley, Standard Novels). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42324/pg42324.txt (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)