CALMET, Augustin.

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Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges, des Démons & des Esprits. Et sur les Revenans et Vampires. De Hongrie, de Bohème, de Moravie & de Silésie. First edition of this influential critical study of the supernatural and vampirism. The French Benedictine abbot Augustin Calmet applies a scientific approach to the existence of magical beings in the Bible, mythology, cultural legends, and famous accounts of alleged sightings in Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.The book was a success, and Calmet published an expanded edition in 1751 with the approval of the King of France. Though Calmet maintains a neutral stance on the existence of vampires, his faithful recording of purported firsthand encounters prompted a chapter of criticism from Voltaire: "What! It's the eighteenth century and there are vampires!" (our translation, p. 310).One of the accounts detailed by Calmet formed the basis for Chapter 13 of Sheridan Le Fanu's novella Carmilla (1872), which subsequently inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).

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