The Vampyre; A Tale by POLIDORI, John William - 1819

London: for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819, 1819. FIRST EDITION SECOND SHERWOOD ISSUE IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS, 1 vol., 8-7/8" x 5-5/8", half-title present, pp.xxv+[i](blank)+[27]-84, 8vo., bound in the original gray paper wrappers, entirely uncut as issued, spine worn but original stitching is firm, rear cover detached, internally clean and bright, free of foxing, ownership name erased from upper front wrapper, bookplate of "Rut & Carl Kjellberg" Rut Kjellberg (1904- ) Carl Kjellberg (1901-1989). A completely un-repaired and unsophisticated copy, housed in a maroon cloth clamshell slipcase, gilt lettered black morocco spine label. THE EARLIEST OBTAINABLE ISSUE with the preface unaltered and set in 24 lines rather than 23 and containing the commentary suggesting improprieties regarding "two sisters as the partakers of his revels" (implying a menage-a-trois with Byron, Mary Godwin & Jane Clermont), and p.36 omitting the "a" in "almost" in the final line. Polidori, Lord Byron's personal physician, accompanied him into exile and was present at the Chateau near Geneva on the evening in 1816 when, after recounting German ghost stories, Byron suggested that each of those present should compose a supernatural tale. This was the occasion that gave rise to Mary Shelley's supernatural classic, Frankenstein, and to Polidori's The Vampyre - a much inferior work, but still celebrated as the first vampire-gothic work in English, and extremely popular in its time (partly, no doubt, because it first appeared as the work of Byron).