Happy 124th birthday to "Dracula"

On this day in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published, cementing its author’s name in literary history.

We knew Literary Hub had shared a few fun pieces about Dracula, including a look at the copyright battle its creator’s widow waged against the movie Nosferatu, the fact that it was outsold by a six-to-one margin in its publication year, and a ranking of the best film portrayals of the title character.

But, as it turns out, Lit Hub and its sibling sites have even more juicy backstories to share.

There’s a contemporary review of Dracula, an analysis of an Icelandic “sister text” to the novel, reporting on the Victorian vampire-fighting kits it inspired, and an excerpt from 2018’s official prequel, Dracul, written by a descendent of Stoker.