Birth of a Legend

In the summer of 1890, Bram Stoker - possibly at the suggestion of his employer, the eminent Victorian actor Henry Irving - took a holiday in the picturesque and atmospheric Yorkshire fishing port of Whitby. At the time, he was working on a horror novel, in which, due to its impact on his susceptible imagination, the town would feature in a number of memorable scenes. An obscure book in a local library also provided the name of the novel's villain and ultimately, its Dracula. Birth of a Legend provides a comprehensive account of Stoker's time and discoveries in Whitby, exploring the town's pivotal role in Dracula, and its standing as a nineteenth century literary haven; all placed within the context of Stoker's life and the continuing Dracula phenomenon. Also included is the full text of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the most important and influential of all vampire novels. Introduction; Chapter 1. Bram Stoker and His World; Chapter 2. A Writer's Whitby, 1890; Chapter 3. Characters and Fiction and Reality; Chapter 4: The Wreck of the Demeter; Chapter 5: The Unearthing of Dracula; Chapter 6: Dracula on Film; Afterword; "Dracula" by Bram Stoker (full text)