Dracula (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions)

Although not as elaborate as most of the other offerings in the "Leatherbound Classics" series, "Dracula", and its companion pieces, is well made and well appointed with an attractive red leather cover, nicely embellished with classic styled imprinting, color-stained end pages, colorful, marbled end papers, and raised hub spine. The story is the standard fare in a classy package, offered in the typical "octavo" 8-inch book size. It is timely offered in the present economy, and is appropriately priced. It will be at home on the book shelf amongst other fine, collectible books and classic literature...it has my "two thumbs up"!

After reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - a modern day re-telling of the Dracula legend, I just had to follow it with the Bram Stoker original. It's been awhile since I read a classic piece of literature (back in January, I delved into Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami), and it wasn't until about 50 pages in that I was able to adjust to the 19th century vernacular. While it took me longer to finish (about a week), it was well worth the extra effort to become immersed in a Gothic masterpiece. Before delving into the pages, my perception was tainted by the Dracula caricature distributed by Hollywood, most notably the immortal 1931 Bella Lugosi performance of a wild-eyed, cape-wearing villain lurking in the shadows. I didn't know much about Stoker's actual storyline, and I was surprised at how fleetingly the count appears in the novel. Even though his motivations dictate the majority of the action, Dracula plays more of a supporting role letting a host of other characters take the lead. It's funny, but in both The Historian and this earlier rendition, Dracula comes across as cartoonish. For Stoker's 1897 audience, the limited development can be attributed to the fact that the subject of vampires was considered quite shocking for the time period. Yet as one of the main contributors to the horror genre canon, the writing style is nevertheless quaint and antiquated for 21st century sensibilities. Much of the dialogue comes across as affected with overly exaggerated emotion. It's like watching a silent movie filled with fluttering eyelashes and arched eyebrows with melodramatic lines such as, "On your living soul I charge you that you do not die - nay, nor think of death - till this great evil be past." I was not steeped in vampire lore and only recognized the name Van Helsing from the 2004 movie starring Hugh Jackman. Needless to say, the vampire hunter of Stoker's creation is an elderly Dutch physician who speaks in stilted English and proceeds against his foe more through trial and error than any definitive knowledge. He employs the superstitions he encounters in his research to combat Dracula - garlic, a crucifix, even wafers of the Holy Eucharist. He comes across partly as a comedic figure who is bumbling through his investigation, but in the end through happenstance or luck ends up on the right track. Stoker excels in setting a scene. He is a master at creating atmosphere. It feels as if you are sitting in the horse-drawn carriage with Jonathan Harker as he ascends the Carpathian Mountains to the very heart of Dracula's lair. You can feel the mist in your face. You can hear the wolves howling in the distance. You can see the terror in the eyes of his fellow passengers. The aura of foreboding is palpable. Another captivating scene is the arrival of Dracula's ship at the English port of Whitby. A horrific storm heralds the vessel's appearance on the horizon. Battling the wind and waves, it runs aground of its own accord without a crew. The body of the dead captain is tied to the wheel, a crucifix in his lifeless hands. Horror writing doesn't get much better than this.

I love the leather bound classics that B&N has released and these are no exception.... Beautiful cover, tightly bound, clear medium size printing on heavier pages. Also , they are much easier to read then the larger collection, not as bulky and heavy. I am very excited to add the books to my collection. The best thing is even thought are not Easton Press books they have the same allure. Definitely worth the very little money and the amazing read. The add to you home library so your kids/grandkids can admire and enjoy this magnificent book.

I am thrilled they picked Dracula for one of their single titles, and it's a lovely little book. These single versions of the larger leatherbound collected works are smaller because they are single titles instead of a bound volume of collected works, but they are gorgeous in their own right. You're getting a leatherbound book for less money than a paperback of the same title; I think the value is obvious and they look just as pretty on the shelf as the rest of the larger series.

REALLY GOOD BOOK LIKE NO OTHER DRACULA AT THERE BUT THE QUALITY OF THE COVER BEING MADE POOR, I HAD THIS BOOK FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS KEPT IT I A PLACE THAT IT WOULDNT BE THROWN AROUND OR HAVE ANYTHING PLACED ON TOP OF IT AND STILL A FEW WEEKS LATER IT GETS MESSED UP THE CORNERS WENT FROM THE PROPER COLOR RED TO GRAY AND LITTLE GRAY SPECS ALL ON TOP OF THE FRONT COVER IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON BUYING THIS BOOK TO KEEP FOR A LONG TIME TRY TO FIND ANOTHER BETTER QUALITY ONE

I really liked this wonderful edition of a marvelous classic!I                                                                                                                            I loved the thick pages and the soft red leather-bound exterior. My only complaint is that my copy came with a tiny imperfection in the title of the book on the cover. However, it is barely noticeable so it does not really bother me. I have had the book for awhile and it has held up very well Wonderful book, if you want to read this classic I would highly suggest purchasing this edition.  

Drac­ula by Bram Stoker is a clas­sic hor­ror book writ­ten in 1897. The book was part of a genre called inva­sion lit­er­a­turein which mon­sters tries to take over the United Kingdom. An Eng­lish solic­i­tor named Jonathan Harker trav­els from Eng­land to meet Count Drac­ula in his cas­tle in Tran­syl­va­nia to pro­vide legal real estate sup­port. Harker soon dis­cov­ers he is a pris­oner in the cas­tle and noticed Dracula's noc­tur­nal life. Harker barely escapes. Soon after a Russ­ian ship runs aground in Whitby, Eng­land. All the crew are miss­ing, only the body of the cap­tain is found. In the captain's log there are tales of strange events which took place dur­ing the jour­ney, lead­ing to the crew's dis­ap­pear­ance. A large dog is seen jump­ing a shore. Later in Eng­land, Harker's finacee Mina Mur­ray and her friend Lucy West­enra are being tracked by Drac­ula. One of Lucy's friends, Dr. Seward, is tak­ing care of an insane man named Ren­field who eats insects, birds and spi­ders to absorb their life force. Unfor­tu­nately Lucy starts to waste away and Dr. Seward calls his old teacher Pro­fes­sor Abra­ham Van Hels­ing from Hol­land. Van Hels­ing rec­og­nizes Lucy's ill­ness but refuses to spec­ify because he is afraid Seward will not believe his sto­ries of vampires. The doc­tors lose the fight and Lucy dies. Soon after, reports of chil­dren being stalked by a beau­ti­ful lady at night are being talked about. Van Hels­ing knows Lucy became a vam­pire. Together with Lucy's suit­ors, Van Hels­ing tracks her and kills her. Mina and Jonathan get mar­ried but Drac­ula learns of Van Helsing's plot and takes revenge by feed­ing from Mina and mak­ing her drink his blood cre­at­ing a spir­i­tual bond. The group knows that the only way to save Lucy is to kill the Count. At first I didn't think I'd like Drac­ula by Bram Stoker and I'm sur­prised at how much I did like it. The novel is com­posed of let­ters, jour­nals, news­pa­pers arti­cles, telegrams and a chill­ing ship log. The story is told through alter­nat­ing view points, the only per­son who knows the whole story is Van Hels­ing - and that includes the reader. At the end of the novel you still don't know if you missed some­thing or if Stoker pur­posely left some­thing out. While I can cer­tainly see how that would bother peo­ple, per­son­ally I thought that was part of the genius of the book. I was sur­prised at the many themes the novel touched, from sex­ual con­ven­tions, to immi­gra­tion and from cul­ture to colo­nial­ism and, of course, good vs. evil. The novel is extremely atmos­pheric as one would expect. The role of Mina Harker was sur­pris­ing at most, espe­cially con­sid­er­ing this is a Vic­to­rian novel. While virtue and inno­cence are unabash­ingly hailed, Mina assumes the role of a pious woman yet rise above her pre­scribed roles in soci­ety to become a part­ner

Dracula is one of my favorite books; it's original and inthralling. I've got to say, I couldn't put it down! So, since I enjoy it so much, I was very excited when Barnes & Noble came out with this leather bound edition of this classic novel. The mystery and the thrill in Dracula is first class. If you're a fan of the supernatural, or vampires, this is the book for you!

A beautiful version of an absolutely beautiful book. The imagery throughout the whole story is incredible and the format in which it is written, as first person journal entries, makes you feel as if you're part of the whole ordeal. The first 4 chapters alone are worth the $10! My one downside is that the binding was coming apart from the last pages at the back of the book, which I would assume has to do with the quality of these flex-bound covers they use. But if you take care of it, it's a really fantastic version of a great book!

Definitely a great call to order from B&N! They delivered to my friend's door right on his birthday. No unpleasant surprises.

I always had loved the stories of the supernatural, and always wanted to read the story that introduces Dracula to the world. After finally reading I fell in love with this story. Stoker provides a dark and mysterious tone in his story, and I loved that about Dracula. It was amazing! 

Been saving this for ages! I've loved the story of Dracula since I was a child, and I even enjoy the movies (I myself am not a film person). So now it was finally time to read it, in this lovely little leather bound edition! Everyone probably knows the story by heart (with a few variations depending on where you first heard it, probably), but I'm gonna write it down anyways! The book itself is put together by diary entries from the characters, letters, telegrams, ship logs, newspaper clippings and the like. But they are very well written, so there are no ''holes'' in the story at all. And you get to see everything from everyone's perspectives! Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor, travels all the way from England to the Carpathian Mountains to visit Count Dracula, to be of legal support to Dracula's real estate transaction of Exeter. Not long after, Jonathan discovers what the Count truly is, and is trapped in the castle, and also encounters three female vampires, but is saved by the Count, who wants to keep him alive for longer to use him. He manages to escape, but suffers from brain fever and is taken care of by nuns. The next part is a pretty big part, which I feel isn't portrayed enough in the movies. It starts with the ship log of the Demeter, which ends up in Whitby - With only one passenger left, that is the captain, dead tied to the ship's helm. We are obviously told that Dracula was aboard this ship - He gets off as a large dog, and the cargo discovered consists of boxes of earth. The Count watches Jonathan's fiancée Wilhelmina Murray and her friend Lucy Westenra closely. Lucy is a popular young woman, and receives three marriage proposals in one day from Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood - She accept that of the latter, but they all remain friends. Now that we know who Dr. John Seward is, we are introduced to his phonograph diaries about the patients of the lunatic asylum, in particular about the patient Renfield - Which is clearly being influenced by Dracula. We hear about his love of absorbing life force from flies, spiders, birds and cats. Lucy begins to grow pale and weak, and everyone worries about her - So Seward calls in his old teacher Professor Abraham Van Helsing to help them out. He immediately knows what they're dealing with, but won't tell. He makes them all give her blood transfusions, but her blood is quickly drained again. A night when Van Helsing is in Amsterdam and his message for Seward to watch the house is delayed, Lucy and her mother is attacked by a wolf, and Mrs. Westenra dies of heart failure, and Lucy dies soon after. After they are buried, newspaper report about a beautiful lady (called ''bloofer lady'' by the children) luring children at night, and we understand that Lucy has now become a vampire. Van Helsing finally informs the others, and they stake her heart, cuts off her head and fill her mouth with garlic. Jonathan Harker is now back home, with his new wife Mina, who went to him in Budapest to marry him. After Mina knows about what happened, she and the others join in to deal with Dracula. The Count learns of this, and in anger feeds off of Mina several times, and even makes her drink his blood, so they are bonded, and he can control her. They now have to kill him to set her free. She is hypnotized so she can connect with Dracula, but he deceives her of his surroundings. When all of the earth boxes are sterilized by the group, Dracula flees back to Transylvania, and the group follows him. When they are closing in, they split up. Mina stays with Van Helsing who kills the Count's three brides. It is now sundown at the castle, and Harker and Quincey have rushed to the box with Dracula in it, transported by gypsies. Harker shears Dracula through the throat, and Quincey stabs him in the heart, before he dies. Dracula turns to dust, and Mina is freed. And just like I want my endings to be, we are told that seven years later, Mina and Jonathan have a son, named after the members of the group, but is called Quincey, since he was born on the anniversary of their American friend's death. That summer they travel back to Transylvania. What can I say? I feel it all says itself, I really adore this story (yeah, I'm being a REALLY stereotypical goth here)! I will read it many times more.

I have read many vampire stories, from the scary (Salem's Lot) to the romantic (Twilight) but, despite it's age, this is by far the creepiest vampire novel I have read. In fact, this is the only vampire story that has ever disturbed my sleep. The old-world language and diary format lend it an air of tension to this novel that is lacking in other vampire books that I have read. Most horror books are scary, but fairly predictable. Not so, Bram Stoker's Dracula. I found this story to be intriguing and enthralling and I found myself unable to put it down. This is the original vampire novel and, in my opinion, still the best.

This book is so very nice. It's far classier in your hands than it looks online. Very rich in color, dense to the touch. Well bound, the paper is good and heavy, the font is large and lovely. The book creates the perfect atmosphere to get you in the mood for the gothic tale within. This is my first leatherbound book from B&N and based on this I will be purchasing more.

I do not have this hardcover book, but in paperback because it was cheaper.  I must say that this story is by far my favorite.  I like how it is written in journals so you know how everybody is feeling.  Although I'm not used to older English, it was still easy to understand.  It's not like trying to read Shakespeare.  Definitely a must read. 

I would not say this is the highest quality book there is, but it is certainly better than most all that are out there. The Easton Press may have beat this one on quality, but not on looks.   It is beautiful. The blood red cover with black and gold design is a joy to look at and though others may have commented negatively about the lack of gilding on the pages, I think it is better without. The dead black compliments the cover and reflects the somber story better than any gold(out of place with the coloring) or silver.  Although I have read Dracula many times, it was a pleasure to hold and read such a handsome volume. This is a purchase well worth the money and an appreciated addition to my library.(it replaces a well worn Dover Thift edition from ten years ago.)

This book was perfect to add to the leatherbound classics collection. Bram Stoker's Dracula is a huge part of gothic victorian fiction and deserves it spot. I had never read it before but was pleasantly surprised by the story. I already read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and I appreciate them even more. Anne Rice went into the mind of the vampire, but Bram Stoker brought it into existence. Also, the cover art is BEAUTIFUL. I found myself closing the book often just to look at the exterior. Beautifully done!

Though its smaller than the other books in this series, had thicker paper, and the edge isn't gold (just plain gray) I still think its gorgeous by itself. I bought this one and Frankenstein, and they both go well together. Definitely a good one to buy!

Amazing!!! The cover, the pages ....everything! Makes you feel as if you are reading a book from Draculas castle....definitely worth the buy =)

This is a classic. Love this book. Read it when I was a teenager and re-reading again for the different perspective as an adult. Recommend as an immediate read.