The birthday of a novel
World Dracula Day marks the anniversary of the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was published in London by Archibald Constable and Company on 26 May 1897. Nobody is quite sure who first proposed the day, but readers, libraries and fans of horror mark it every year.
Bram Stoker and his book
Stoker was born in Dublin in 1847 and spent much of his working life in London as business manager of the Lyceum Theatre for the actor Henry Irving. Dracula is told through letters, diary entries and newspaper cuttings, as Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra, Dr John Seward and Professor Abraham Van Helsing piece together the threat of a count who travels from Transylvania to England. Its English scenes include the Yorkshire harbour town of Whitby, which still draws visitors because of the book.
A hundred years on screen
Few novels have been adapted so often. The unauthorised German film Nosferatu (1922) reworked the story with Max Schreck as Count Orlok; Universal’s Dracula (1931) made Bela Lugosi’s performance the defining image of the count for a generation; and Hammer’s films, beginning with Dracula (1958) starring Christopher Lee, brought him back in colour. New versions still appear on stage and screen.
Celebrating the day
The simplest way to mark World Dracula Day is to read the book, which is short enough for a few late evenings and long out of copyright in many countries, or to watch one of its many adaptations.