John W. Polidori Boeken

The gripping memoir of life in the SAS * World War II action * A remarkable account of the Western Desert campaign Born of the Desert is a classic account of the early years of the SAS. The Special Air Service was formed in 1941 and quickly earned a reputation for stealth, daring and audacity in the Western Desert campaign. This elite force utilized the endless expanse of the desert to carry out surprise attacks and hit and run raids behind the Afrika Korps' lines, sowing confusion, fear and consternation. Malcolm James served as a medical officer with the SAS throughout 1942 and 1943, and Born of the Desert is his atmospheric account of his life in the North African desert, the bitter fighting against German and Italian targets and the forging of a remarkable elite unit. James captures the excitement of this dramatic mode of warfare with his sharp and detailed narrative but also brings to life the deadly beauty of the desert, the harsh environment and the strong bonds of comradeship and interdependence which resulted.

The inspiration for a long-running Broadway musical, this Victorian novel in the penny dreadful tradition recounts the nefarious doings of a murderous barber and baker who recycle their victims into meat pies.

Before there was Dracula, there was Varney the Vampyre, the most famous of the sensational penny dreadfuls issued by Victorian-era publishers. Printed anonymously in serial form in 1847, these gripping tales recount the exploits of a deathless creature with an insatiable appetite for blood. A succession of exciting episodes chronicle the horrible fates of Varney's victims as well as the terrifying experiences of the band of comrades sworn to destroy the vampire. Varney the Vampyre not only thrilled countless eager readers but also established many of the conventions and ideas associated with vampirism.Scarcely any copies of the original edition survive, yet this legendary "feast of blood" continues to captivate readers with its inexplicable deaths, impossible escapes, revivifications, and graveyard rituals. This volume is the second of a two-book set, both of which feature many atmospheric woodcut illustrations. Dover (2015) republication of the edition published by E. Lloyd Salisbury Square, London, 1847.

Collection of seven Gothic horror tales from the nineteeth century

`The Vampyre' was first published in 1819 in the London New Monthly Magazine. The present volume - a companion to Tales of Terror from Blackwood's Magazine in World's Classics - selects thirteen other tales of the macabre first published in the leading London and Dublin magazines between 1819 and 1838. It includes Edward Bulwer's chilling account of the doppelganger, Letitia Landon's elegant reworking of the Gothic romance, William Carleton's terrifying description of an actual lynching, and James Hogg's ghoulish exploitation of the cholera epidemic of 1831-2.

The compelling works of John William Polidori (1795-1821) such as The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold, exerted a powerful hold over literature and popular culture. This is a collection of Polidori's works, along with his lesser-known works such as his medical thesis on nightmares, his pamphlet on the death penalty, his poetry and diary.

In 1816, John William Polidori travelled to Geneva as Lord Byron’s personal physician. There they met Mary Godwin (later Shelley) and her lover Percy Shelley and decided to while away a wet summer by writing ghost stories. The only two to complete their stories were Mary Shelley, who published Frankenstein in 1818, and Polidori, whose The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold were both published in 1819. The Vampyre, based on a discarded idea of Byron’s, is the first portrayal of the alluring vampire figure familiar to readers of Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. Ernestus Berchtold scandalously draws on the rumours of Byron’s affair with his half-sister for a Faustian updating of the myth of Oedipus, which it combines with an account of the struggle of Swiss patriots against the Napoleonic invasion. Along with Polidori’s work, this edition also includes stories read and written by the travellers in the Genevan summer of 1816 and contemporary responses to The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold.

The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, Relating to Byron, Shelley, etc. Edited and Elucidated by William Michael Rossetti. Originally published in 1911. This books pages contain the diary entries of the Italian English physician and writer in 1816. It contains the stories and anecdotes of his journeys though Europe while accompanying Lord Byron as his personal physician. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.