The following are a sampling of books on the subject of vampirism and Dracula. Since there are countless (!) number of books out there, we know we have missed some.  We also try to to highlight the books that are well-reviewed and highly recommended. However, we will continue to search and update our database to help you on your journey for information.

You can either buy the books through Amazon, as we have provided the link, or just write down their name and find them at your local bookstore or used bookstore.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

By Bram Stoker 

Can there be a more terrifying tale than this? The story of the notorious vampire Count Dracula, lord of the undead, who rises from his coffin at night to suck the blood of the living is, undoubtedly, the stuff of nightmares. A lunatic asylum, a bleak Transylvanian castle, an ancient cemetery . . . these are the dark backgrounds to the even darker deeds portrayed in this most bloodcurdling of tales.

Narrated from several viewpoints, Dracula is a complex story that many know, but few have actually read. Jan Needle's newly edited version makes the gripping events accessible to the twenty-first reader without losing the incomparably chilling atmosphere of Bram Stoker's original novel.

This handsome abridged edition features blood-red and black inks and over fifty black and white illustrations. The dust jacket features raised text and the spine features silver embossing. Amazon.com

Vlad Dracula: The Dragon Prince

By Michael Augustyn

Most of the vast audience attracted to the subject of Dracula know him only in his fictional, one-dimensional form: vampire! Yet the truth behind the historical character - voevode, warlord - of 15th C. Romania is at least as equally fascinating as any contrived account of his supernatural persona.

Vlad Dracula faithfully follows his life story as hostage, fugitive, prince, and prisoner. His principality of Wallachia was caught between two voracious predators: the kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman empire. They tried to break Dracula with overwhelming force and terror. But Dracula turned their own tactics against them, and against criminals and factions in his own land, earning the name Tepes - The Impaler - in the process.

He was a strange mix of husband, father, soldier, statesman, and berserker. He annihilated 50,000 people - one-tenth of his own population. Cursed by his native Orthodox Christian Church, he indeed evolved into a legend. But even today he is Romania's Robin Hood. Amazon.com

Vampires: Encounters With the Undead 

By David J. Skal 

More than 600 pages of bloodcurdling vampire tales, ranging from literary classics to pulp magazine serials to actual historical accounts, pack this luscious volume featuring commentary by noted vampire authority David J. Skal.

Everyone knows that vampires live forever-and our fascination with vampires seems equally durable. This big, beautiful compilation of vampire tales features two centuries of spine-tingling writing, ranging from John Polidori to Robert Bloch. Put on your cape, light your candelabra and experience works by Alexis Tolstoy, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rosemary Ann Guiley, Henry Kuttner, Cornell Woolrich and dozens more. There's even an interview with a contemporary, self-confessed blood-drinker.

Every page of Vampires features a column of running commentary by the editor, expanding upon the stories and exploring the evolution of the vampire mystique in folklore, literature and popular culture. Some 200 beautifully rendered black-and-white images, ranging from vintage engravings to film posters and popular artifacts, make this book a true Vampire's Feast! Amazon.com

Vampires and Vampirism 

By Montague Summers 

Any investigation into vampire legends leads inevitably to the works of Montague Summers (1880-1948), whose research and writings in the 1920s established him as the subject’s preeminent authority. This study examines vampire lore in fantastic detail, constituting a record of folk beliefs unequaled in its sheer scope and depth. It features all the apparatus of an academic work, including footnotes and references to rare source documents, and it addresses such issues as how vampires came into existence, vampirish behavior, vampire-like ancient myths, and vampires in modern literature. Unabridged republication of the classic 1929 edition. Introduction. Bibliography. Index. Amazon.com

The Vampire in Lore and Legend

By Montague Summers 

Riveting study by a leading authority on witchcraft and occult phenomena examines the history of vampirism in Europe, exploring the presence of vampires in Greek and Roman lore, in England during Anglo-Saxon times, in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and even modern Greece. A fascinating, sometimes horrifying book, which, according to The New York Times, is a "mine of out-of-the-way information full of unspeakable tales." Amazon.com

Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead

By J. Gordon Melton 

J. Gordon Melton has the credentials: he's a religious historian, author of 25 books about religion and vampires, president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula (founded in Bucharest, Romania), and chairman of the committee that put on Dracula '97: A Centennial Celebration in Los Angeles. The Vampire Book is meticulously researched and well organized. Included are an article on the cultural history of the vampire; a historical timeline; addresses of vampire societies all over the world; a 55-page filmography; vampires in plays, opera, and ballet; a 13-page list of vampire novels; and an extensive index. The A to Z entries, each with a short bibliography, include vampire lore in more than 30 different geographic regions and a comprehensive "who's who," and cover topics ranging from fingernails to sexuality, the Camarilla to Szekelys. Amazon.com

The Vampire Encyclopedia

By Mathew Bunson

With over 2,000 entries in A-to-Z format, The Vampire Encyclopedia is a one-stop reference for everything and anything to do with vampires, from books and films to the history of the vampire legend and ways to RESIST THESE IRRESISTIBLE CREATURES. The vampire is alive and flourishing in books, hit television shows, clubs, even comic books—there's no end in sight for the immortal ones!  Amazon.com

In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires 

By Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally

"Little did the coauthors realize at the time they embarked upon this project over a glass of plum brandy in Bucharest more than twenty-five years ago, that their work would result in the discovery of the authentic, bloodthirsty prototype for Bram Stoker's famous novel Dracula." This pioneering study, first published in 1972, became a collector's item, so this fully updated edition is welcome indeed. The authors' pursuit of the notion that Vlad the Impaler (1431-76) was the original Dracula--through treks both antiquarian (in old libraries and museums) and geographic (in areas of Romania that were once Transylvania and Walachia)--has the thrill of an adventure story. In Search of Dracula is also an entertaining introduction to vampire lore and to people's obsession with Dracula. It has a delightful cover by Edward Gorey and numerous illustrations, including antique woodcuts of Vlad's impaled victims and photos from the authors' trips to Romania. Amazon.com

Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality

By Paul Barber  

Barber has written a stimulating, authoritative discourse on the relationship between the historical concepts of vampires in folklore and fiction across the ages and throughout the world. To explain the underlying myraid interment and mourning practices designed to keep the dead at bay, he postulates a universal fear of the"vampire/revenant." Such fear was most probably based on universal lack of knowledge and control over fatal illness and disease, and misinterpretations of the natural (and varied) physical manifestations of death and decay in the human body. A lengthy bibliography accompanies the text. Best for academics, but for interested general readers too. Amazon.com

The Science of Vampires 

By Katherine Ramsland 

Forensic psychologist and horror-cultural journalist Katherine Ramsland's latest book considers the scientific possibilities and psychological implications of vampirism, from its literary genesis in Bram Stoker's Dracula to the present day. Ramsland's Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today chronicled the modern cultural impact of the vampire. Now she broadens her inquiry to examine vampire mythology and practice in scientific terms, taking the reader into discussions of psychoneuroimmunology, endorphins and psychedelics, psychopathology, and other areas of science and metaphysics.

Ramsland isn't advocating the existence of creatures of the night. Rather, she applies scientific methods and concepts to the aspects of the vampire that are most attractive--immortality, abilities of mental and sexual control, the maintenance of life through the blood or energy of others. The particular applications of theory aren't always convincing, but they will be entertaining and interesting to fans of vampire stories and culture who want to go beyond story into the realm of science. - Roz Genessee Amazon.com

Little Book Of Horror: Dracula 

By Steve Niles Illustrated by Richard Sala

Sure, you think you know the real story of Bram Stoker's Dracula. But after countless movies and comic re-tellings, Stoker himself might not recognize his Lord of the Vampires. That's why horror specialist Steve Niles - along with Harvey-nominated gothic illustrator Richard Sala (Evil Eye) - are re-presenting the classic tale in this special illustrated prose style book. Every spread of the book includes an abridged scene from Stoker's original novel accompanied by a special full-page illustration from Sala. Learn the true story of Dracula here! Amazon.com

Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work

By Michelle A. Belanger

The Psychic Vampire Codex is the first book to examine the phenomenon and experience of modern vampirism completely from the vampire’s perspective.

Psychic vampires are people who prey on the vital, human life energies of others. They are not believed to be undead. They are mortal people whose need for energy metaphorically connects them to the life-stealing predators of vampire myth.

In The Psychic Vampire Codex, Michelle Belanger, author and psychic vampire, introduces readers to the fascinating system of energy work used by vampires themselves and provides the actual codex text widely used by the vampire community for instruction in feeding and other techniques. Belanger also examines the ethics of vampirism and offers readers methods of protection from vampires. Amazon.com

Vampires and Vampirism : Legends from Around the World

By Dudley Wright 

Vampires and Vampirism, first published in 1914 and revised in 1924, is part of a canon of works on the folklore of vampires. Inside these pages are many accounts of the presence of nocturnal creatures with an unnatural hunger. Readers will discover that tales of vampires are whispered not only in the sleepy villages of eastern and central Europe but also in the Middle East, the Asian sub-continent, and the isles of Great Britain.

Dudley Wright was a prolific British author and folklorist who wrote several works on ancient religions, Freemasonry, and legends. His work in the area of vampirology remains important to this day. Amazon.com

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