Claude Cohen

A grainy detail from Claude Cohen's "Self-Portrait," 1920, which was used as the cover for The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Œdipus, the only two stories authored by John Polidori. Polidori was a physician who aspired to be a writer. He traveled with Lord Byron (as his personal physician) and the Shelley's. In one of their famous outings, the group of friends challenged one another to produce horror stories. Lord Byron produced "Augustus Darvell," which he abandoned. Mary Shelley produced Frankenstein. And John Polidori, using Byron's work as a template, developed the most lasting piece of vampire fiction ever written by a Westerner, and called it simply "The Vampyre." Lord Byron and the Shelley's, however, looked down on the young doctor and even ridiculed his story.

The book featuring the Claude Cohen cover was edited by D.L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf.