He had just unleashed one of the most famed gothic horror books on the world, a blood-curdling classic that chilled readers and has inspired countless authors, film-makers and video game developers ever since.
But a rare note that Bram Stoker wrote only weeks after Dracula was published in 1897 gives a glimpse into the playful fun he must have had with the novel.
In the letter – addressed to an unidentified “Williams” – Stoker writes: “I send you Dracula & have honoured myself by writing your name in it … Lord forgive me. I am quite shameless. Yours ever, Bram Stoker.”
Oliver Bayliss, of Bayliss Rare Books in London, who sold the letter, said the note was personal, informal and revealing. Stoker was better known for his reserved and professional tone in the few letters that have survived but this one suggested an awareness of his book’s gothic extravagance and, perhaps, a playful pride in its dark theatricality. Bayliss said letters by Stoker were rare and ones in which he mentioned Dracula by name virtually unheard of.
“Less than a handful are known to exist, and those are typically formal acknowledgments. By contrast, this letter is informal, insightful, and dated just weeks after the book’s publication, making it one of the earliest and most candid authorial commentaries on the now-legendary novel.
“This letter gives us something we’ve never really had before: Stoker’s own voice, responding to Dracula around the moment it entered the world – not as an icon of horror, but as a new, uncertain work.
“Stoker’s humorous aside, ‘Lord forgive me. I am quite shameless’ has the ring of an artist knowingly pushing the boundaries of the gothic and enjoying it. It’s theatrical, cheeky, and utterly authentic. That tone simply doesn’t appear in his other known correspondence on the subject.”
Bayliss said there was what could be another word – or just a squiggle – in the “shameless” sentence: “I struggled with that but from deep review and looking even with a magnifying glass, I think it is just a squiggle, a typo. However, it could be ‘now’ which makes the quote all the more potent.”
Bayliss, who sells to institutions and private collectors, said: “Given the extraordinary rarity of this letter, it will have strong appeal to both. There’s also crossover with film and pop culture collectors, especially those with an eye on iconic 20th-century monsters.
“I could also see investor interest. Dracula is one of the most sought-after first editions in rare book collecting, and a letter signed by Stoker, directly referencing the vampire and revealing his early thoughts on the novel, is essentially one in a billion. Rarer than seeing a vampire in daylight.”
The letter came from a seller on the west coast of the US, who had acquired it from a private collection where it had been since the 1970s. The piece was sold to an as yet unnamed buyer on Wednesday for £15,000.
Bayliss said: “It’s rather special to bring the letter back to the city where Dracula was first published – and where the letter was, in all likelihood, written while Stoker was managing the Lyceum Theatre.”
• This article was amended on 16 April 2025 to add information about the inclusion of a squiggle – or the word “now” – in Bram Stoker’s sentence about being shameless.
