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« on: May 04, 2006, 09:01:01 PM »
Patti, vampires were big business in 1902. I believe the first stage dramatization of Dracula was around this time; Melies made some vampire themed films, and of course, the novel Dracula, originally published in 1897, continued to sell briskly. Vampires figured in the early 19th century paintings of Henry Fuseli, and a big bestseller during the "penny dreadful" craze of the 1840s was the very long thriller, Varney the Vampire (which includes some themes familiar to DS viewers, such as a mysterious old portrait to which the vampire bears a curious resemblance). Moving forward a bit, some readers feel that the best vampire tale of all remains the novella, Carmilla, by the Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. It has been filmed several times and was first published in 1871!
Arencha glad ya asked!
G.