STOKER, BRAM. Autograph manuscript of The Lady of the Shroud , his penultimate novel, [London], 26 December 1907-30 March 1909. 404 pages, virtually all 4to, closely written in blue ink, nearly all on the outer pages (first and fourth) of folded sheets (bifolia), a working draft with very extensive revisions throughout and with material not used in the final version, with some use of pencil, red ink, and blue pencil, dated throughout by Stoker; the page count above including 57 pages, 4to, and 8 pages, 12mo, of a scenario-outline for the novel and working notes ("Lay out," list of characters, etc.), with an ANS from Stoker to his typist; the first page of the "prologue" dust-soiled, the second page a bit frayed at the right edge with loss of a few letters, a couple of pages towards end of manuscript with some light stains; handsomely enclosed in two brown half morocco gilt slipcases, by the Scroll Club . A PRINCESS POSING AS A VAMPIRE, A SEVEN-FOOT HERO, AND AERIAL WARFARE Bram Stoker began outlining the plot of The Lady of the Shroud on 26 December 1907, but did not actually start writing the book until 23 April 1908. Working in bursts, as can be seen from his dates in the margins, he finished his next-to-last novel on 30 March 1909. It was first published by William Heinemann, London, in 1909; a popular blend of the weird with zestful romance, it went through some 20 editions in as many years (a copy of a 1966 English abridged edition accompanies the manuscript, an inscribed copy of the first edition is offered in the following lot). The Lady of the Shroud "is a heady mix of the predictions of H.G. Wells and the romantic adventure stories of Anthony Hope. It is written in the form of journals kept [and letters sent] by the principal characters -- as with Dracula [published in 1897]; the title character is really a princess forced to pose as a vampire. The fantastic ending (missing from the abridged versions) predicts aerial warfare five years before the outbreak of the Great War..." (Sullivan, ed., The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural , pp. 405-06). Although the vampire theme is revisited (from Dracula ) tangentially, it is present in its lurking horror, leading the troubled hero to a shock discovery in a glass-covered tomb, and a strange midnight ritual in a church filled with phantoms. The hero of the novel is seven-foot-tall Rupert St. Leger, an Englishman who becomes the leader of a Balkan people in The Land of the Blue Mountains against their oppressors. "In it we get hints of the kinky sexuality that will become the main characteristic of the last of Stoker's novels, The Lair of the White Worm , 1911" (Leonard Wolf, Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide , New York, 1997, p. 134). Not Dracula (obviously!), but on the 100th anniversary of that classic's first publication it should be noted that Stoker only wrote seven novels and it is unlikely that the manuscript of another one will ever come on the market. (3)
STOKER, BRAM. Autograph manuscript of The Lady of the Shroud , his penultimate novel, [London], 26 December 1907-30 March 1909. 404 pages, virtually all 4to, closely written in blue ink, nearly all on the outer pages (first and fourth) of folded sheets (bifolia), a working draft with very extensive revisions throughout and with material not used in the final version, with some use of pencil, red ink, and blue pencil, dated throughout by Stoker; the page count above including 57 pages, 4to, and 8 pages, 12mo, of a scenario-outline for the novel and working notes ("Lay out," list of characters, etc.), with an ANS from Stoker to his typist; the first page of the "prologue" dust-soiled, the second page a bit frayed at the right edge with loss of a few letters, a couple of pages towards end of manuscript with some light stains; handsomely enclosed in two brown half morocco gilt slipcases, by the Scroll Club . A PRINCESS POSING AS A VAMPIRE, A SEVEN-FOOT HERO, AND AERIAL WARFARE Bram Stoker began outlining the plot of The Lady of the Shroud on 26 December 1907, but did not actually start writing the book until 23 April 1908. Working in bursts, as can be seen from his dates in the margins, he finished his next-to-last novel on 30 March 1909. It was first published by William Heinemann, London, in 1909; a popular blend of the weird with zestful romance, it went through some 20 editions in as many years (a copy of a 1966 English abridged edition accompanies the manuscript, an inscribed copy of the first edition is offered in the following lot). The Lady of the Shroud "is a heady mix of the predictions of H.G. Wells and the romantic adventure stories of Anthony Hope. It is written in the form of journals kept [and letters sent] by the principal characters -- as with Dracula [published in 1897]; the title character is really a princess forced to pose as a vampire. The fantastic ending (missing from the abridged versions) predicts aerial warfare five years before the outbreak of the Great War..." (Sullivan, ed., The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural , pp. 405-06). Although the vampire theme is revisited (from Dracula ) tangentially, it is present in its lurking horror, leading the troubled hero to a shock discovery in a glass-covered tomb, and a strange midnight ritual in a church filled with phantoms. The hero of the novel is seven-foot-tall Rupert St. Leger, an Englishman who becomes the leader of a Balkan people in The Land of the Blue Mountains against their oppressors. "In it we get hints of the kinky sexuality that will become the main characteristic of the last of Stoker's novels, The Lair of the White Worm , 1911" (Leonard Wolf, Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide , New York, 1997, p. 134). Not Dracula (obviously!), but on the 100th anniversary of that classic's first publication it should be noted that Stoker only wrote seven novels and it is unlikely that the manuscript of another one will ever come on the market. (3)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
