A Brief Annotated Bibliography
with critical commentary provided by Radu R. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally
(Only works in English have been included; the primary sources are only those available at English and American libraries.)
Primary Sources
At the Philip H. and A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation, Philadelphia: Anonymous German print: Die Geschicht Dracole Waide … (Nuremberg: Wagner, 1488). Color frontispiece.
The notes, outlines, and diagrams for Bram Stoker's Dracula, containing lists of the secondary sources, books, et cetera, that he used for the composition of his novel.
At the Library of the British Museum, London:
MS. 24315, F05 138–143. Fifteenth-century Dracula manuscript.
Anonymous German pamphlet Ein wünderliche und erschröliche Hystorie … 1A2673 (Bamberg: Hans Spörer 1491). For precise call numbers, see Catalogue of Books Printed in the 15th Century Now in the British Library (London, 1963).
Books
Carter, Margaret L., Dracula the Vampire and the Critics (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Institute for Research Press, 1988). Anthology of studies; only reference to the historical Dracula is in Devendra P. Varma's “Dracula's Voyage from Pontus to Hellespontus.”
Farson, Daniel, The Man Who Wrote Dracula: A Biography of Bram Stoker (New York: St. Martin's, 1976). A controversial book that highlights Romanian touristic exploitation of the historical Dracula.
Florescu, Radu R., and Raymond T. McNally, Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973). A preliminary study of the historical Dracula within the Romanian context.
Gerard, Emily de Laszowska, The Land beyond the Forest (London: A.M.S. Press, 1888). One of Stoker's main sources for the study of Romanian folklore.
Giurescu, Constantin C., The Life and Deeds of Vlad the Impaler: Drculea (New York: Romanian Library, 1969).
Halecki, Oscar, The Crusade at Varna: A Discussion of a Controversial Problem (New York: Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, 1943). Of interest in accounting for the Dracul-Hunyadi feud.
Held, Joseph, Hunyadi: Legend and Reality (Boulder: East European Monographs; distr. by Columbia University Press, 1985). The only work available in English with an excellent analysis of Hunyadi's character and aims.
Kritoboulos of Imbros, History of Mehmed the Conqueror, trans. Charles T. Riggs (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954). A mediocre translation of a pro-Turkish chronicle that discusses Dracula's campaign against Sultan Mehmed II.
Leu, Corneliu, Dracula's Complaint, trans. Victor Budeanu (Bucharest; Cartea Româneasca, 1978). A novel based on some authentic historical sources.
Ludlam, Harry, A Biography of Dracula: The Life Story of Bram Stoker (London: Foulsham, 1962). Although dated, still the most comprehensive of the Stoker biographies. The author was not acquainted with the notes at the Rosenbach Foundation.
McNally, Raymond T., and Radu R. Florescu, The Essential Dracula (New York: Mayflower Books, 1979). An annotated text of Bram Stoker's novel, based on the author's notes available at the Rosenbach Foundation.
_____, In Search of Dracula: A True History of Dracula and Vampire Legends (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1972).
Münster, Sebastian, Cosmographia universalis, English ed. (London, 1558), vol. 6. Contains most of the early German anecdotes concerning Dracula's cruelties.
Myles, Douglas, Prince Dracula Son of the Devil (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988). A purported biography that intermixes facts and fiction.
Ronay, Gabriel, The Truth about Dracula (also published under the title The Dracula Myth) (New York: Stein & Day, 1972). Essentially the history of Countess Elizabeth Báthory. Superficial on the historical Dracula.
Roth, Phyllis A., Bram Stoker (Boston: Twayne, 1982). The most recent biography of Bram Stoker. The author is acquainted with the notes available at the Rosenbach Foundation. A scholarly treatment.
Rudorff, Raymond, The Dracula Archives (New York: Arbor House, 1972). A fictionalized account of Count Dracula's past with interesting speculations on a possible Dracula-Báthory marriage alliance.
Stoicescu, Nicolae, Vlad the Impaler, trans. Cristina Krikorian (Bucharest: Romanian Academy, 1978). A very strict interpretation of the documents by one of Romania's leading medievalists.
Tappe, Eric, Documents Concerning Romanian History, 1427–1601, Collected from the British Archives (The Hague: Mouton, 1964). Includes the letter of the English pilgrim William of Wey, which reports a Dracula victory over the Turks in 1462.
Wilkinson, William, An Account of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, with Various Political Observations Relative to Them (London: Longmans, 1820). Interesting in that Stoker obtained most of his information on the historical Dracula from this book.
William of Wey, The Itineraries of William Wey (London: A.M.S. Press, 1857). The travelogue of an English pilgrim to the Holy Land who mentions Dracula.
Wolf, Leonard, The Annotated Dracula (New York: Clarkson Potter, 1975). Superficial on the historical Dracula and written with no apparent reference to Stoker's notes.
_____, A Dream of Dracula (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972). Contains only one chapter on the historical Dracula.
Articles
Bierman, Joseph S., “Dracula: Prolonged Childhood Illness and the Oral Triad.” American Imago, vol. 29 (1972).
_____, “The Genesis and Dating of Dracula from Bram Stoker's Working Notes.” Notes and Queries. N.S., 24, n. i (1977).
Czabai, Stephen, “The Real Dracula.” Hungarian Quarterly (Autumn 1941).
Eddy, Beverly, “Dracula: A Translation of the 1488 Nürnberg Edition, with an Essay by Beverly D. Eddy.” Rosenbach Museum and Library (1985).
Florescu, Radu R., “Dracula as a Hero: Apology for a Part-Time Monster.” International History Magazine, vol. 1, no. 8 (August 1973).
_____, “The Dracula Image in the Works of the Folklorists Petre Ispirescu and C. Rdulescu-Codin.” Cahiers roumains d' études littéraires, vol. 3 (Bucharest, 1977). In English.
_____, “Dracula in Romanian Literature: From Budai-Deleanu to M. Eminescu.” In Eminescu, the Evening Star of Romanian Poetry (Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 1986).
_____, “The Dracula Search in Retrospect.” The New England Social Studies Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 1 (Fall 1985–1986).
_____, “What's in a Name: Dracula or Vlad the Impaler?” Balkanistica (1980).
Kirtley, B., “Dracula, the Monastic Chronicle and Slavic Folklore.” Mid-West Folklore, vol. 6, no. 3 (1956).
McNally, Raymond T., “The 15th Century Manuscript of Kritoboulos of Imbros as a Source for the History of Dracula.” East European Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1 (March 1987).
_____, “Origins of the Slavic Narrative about the Historical Dracula.” In Romania between East and West, ed. S. Fischer-Galati, Radu R. Florescu, and G. R. Ursul (Boulder: East European Monographs; distr. by Columbia University Press, 1982).
McNally, Raymond T., and Stefan Andreescu, “Where Was Dracula Captured in 1462?” East European Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 3 (September 1989).
Nandri, Grigore, “A Psychological Analysis of Dracula and Rumanian Place-names and Masculine Personal names in a/e.” Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 37 (1959).
_____, Grigore, “The Dracula Theme in European Literature of the West and of the East.” In Literary History and Literary Criticism, ed. Leon Edel (New York: New York University Press, 1965).
_____, Grigore, “The Historical Dracula.” In Comparative Literature: Matter and Method (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1969).
Dracula, Prince of Many Faces reveals the extraordinary life and times of the infamous Vlad Dracula of Romania (1431–1476), nicknamed the Impaler. Dreaded by his enemies, emulated by later rulers like Ivan the Terrible, honored by his countrymen even today, Vlad Dracula was surely one of the most intriguing figures to have stalked the corridors of European and Asian capitals in the fifteenth century.
Vlad Dracula also served as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's classic vampire tale. However, as this biography proves, “the real Dracula is far more interesting than the fictional vampire created by Bram Stoker” (Houston Chronicle). Covering Vald Dracula's entire life and subsequent legend, this book includes “a fascinating chapter on the mystery of Dracula's empty grave” (New York Times Book Review).
“Florescu and McNally manage to capture the ruthlessness, romance, and courage that characterized Dracula's ultimately pitiable life. … A fascinating look at political intrigue in fifteenth-century Eastern Europe.”
—Lamar B. Graham, Boston Phoenix Literary Supplement
Radu R. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally, authors of the internationally successful In Search of Dracula, discovered the real Dracula over twenty years ago. They are professors of history at Boston College.
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