I’ll admit it—I’m one of those readers who often skips the foreword. But the moment I saw that V. E. Schwab penned the opening to this edition, I dove in without hesitation. Schwab could write a grocery list and I’d devour it. Their description of the vampire is haunting, visceral, and beautifully phrased—an absolutely perfect entry point into these early works of vampire fiction.

This Penguin Classics edition brings together The Vampyre by John Polidori and Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu—two stories that predate Dracula but were instrumental in shaping the gothic vampire archetype we know today. The real treat, aside from the stories themselves, is the historical background provided by Nick Groom. His exploration of the origins of vampire lore and the cultural forces that birthed these tales adds a rich layer of context that deepened my appreciation immensely.

As someone with a degree in literature—and a longtime lover of gothic fiction and vampire novels—I’m honestly shocked I hadn’t read either of these classics before now. I should probably hand in my book lover card. (But maybe I get to keep it now?) I’ve seen many vampire anthologies over the years, but this one stands out for its thoughtful layout and the unique freshness brought by Schwab and Groom’s contributions.

This is the kind of book that begs to be read on a crisp autumn night, wrapped in a blanket with a cup of something warm. I can’t wait to see the final cover design, and I’ll definitely be recommending this to all my fellow vampire lovers. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Viking Penguin | Penguin Classics for the early copy—and for finally dragging me out of my coffin to read these iconic stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the advanced copy of this book.

I had previously read both The Vampyre and Carmilla (although I realized I only own a copy of Carmilla). So as far as story goes I wasn't expecting anything new, I knew exactly what I was getting here.

However the forward by V.E. Schwab, the introduction, and all of the extra notes really added more than I thought they would to this book. You get the two classic stories but you also get fun little bits of their history and facts.

The Vampyre and Carmilla are both here in their entirety and are both excellent stories, especially for anyone who enjoys vampire based books. The fact they are together in one is perfect in that you can easily move from one to the other and keep them together on your shelf.

This is a collectors hardcover and the information says it will have custom endpapers and cover art. At the time of this review on both Goodreads and Netgalley unfortunately that art is unavailable and it simply says cover unavailable. For that reason alone I am giving it a four instead of a five. Because I have no idea how the book will actually look. Once it is published and we get to see the look of it I can come back and change the four to a five (or not) depending on appearance. But the other four stars are all based on how lovely these two classics are to read and how interesting the added backstories and facts were.

Thais is a great collection of two classic texts that started literature’s love affair with vampires.