POLIDORI, John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Vampyre; A Tale. The rare first appearance in print, and a familial association copy, of the first modern vampire novel. This copy is bound within a sammelband of Rossetti-family works assembled by John Polidori's nephew, William Michael Rossetti, and bears Rossetti's ownership inscription and an autograph index in his hand. This is the only familial association copy of The Vampyre we have seen.Included in this collection are five poems by Christina Rossetti, an article on Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the Quarterly Review, two works by their father, Gabriele Rossetti, and several other works. The sammelband was bound for William Michael Rossetti and contains multiple works from the collection of Frances Rossetti (née Polidori), his mother and John Polidori's sister. A collection of plays is preceded by a blank leaf bearing an inscription from Gaetano Polidori to his daughter Frances, dated 1823 (later passed to Christina Rossetti, and then to William Michael Rossetti in 1887, as attested in his hand). Another gift to Frances, inscribed from her husband Gabriele Rossetti, appears at the beginning of an Italian periodical containing his poems. This is bound immediately after The Vampyre in this sammelband, and together with the presence of other material deriving from Frances, suggests that this copy of Polidori's The Vampyre may also originally have belonged to the author's sister.Each of Christina Rossetti's poems bears marginal inscriptions in pencil by William Michael Ross

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