Dracula 1931 Novelisation Magazine

Product Description

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Want a signed copy with an exclusive art print thrown in? Upgrade to the Dracula 1931 Novelisation Signed + Art Print, one of just 250 worldwide..

On Walpurgis Night, the doors in the mountain villages are barred and the Virgin is prayed to, and only a foolish traveller presses on towards the castle. Universal’s 1931 film made that traveller, and his host, immortal – and now, for the first time, we’ve turned the whole story into a novel. The Dracula 1931 Novelisation follows Renfield’s fateful coach ride through the Borgo Pass all the way to those last dark hours at Carfax Abbey, told in 100 full-colour A4 pages and brought to life by more than a hundred photographs from the film, plenty of them never seen in our pages before. This standard softback edition gives you every page of the novel in the same PUR bound magazine format as Classic Monsters of the Movies.

EU and US customers please note: any taxes, tariffs and imports are paid at our end so there will be no surprise charges for you on this product, so you can buy with confidence.

Walpurgis Night and everything after

A dusty castle, a glass of very old wine and a host who never eats – Renfield’s business trip to Transylvania goes badly wrong from the moment the coach door swings open. Before long he’s a raving inmate of Dr Seward’s sanitarium, while next door, behind the broken windows of Carfax Abbey, a new tenant is settling in. Soon the doctor’s daughter Mina is having strange dreams and her friend Lucy has grown pale and listless, and it falls to Professor Van Helsing to convince a roomful of sceptical Englishmen of something none of them wants to believe. Tod Browning brought it all to the screen for Universal in 1931, adapting Bram Stoker’s novel by way of Hamilton Deane and John L Balderston’s hit stage version, and in doing so he gave the studio its first great horror sensation.

The film, as you’ve never read it

What makes this novel special is the writing. It’s compelling, atmospheric and beautifully crafted, the kind of book that draws you so far into the story that you’ll forget you already know how it ends. The dialogue you know and love is there, but the novel goes further, letting you inside the thoughts of Renfield, Mina, Harker, Seward, Van Helsing and even the put-upon orderly Martin, to show you exactly how each of them got to where they are. Only the Count is kept at arm’s length, as enigmatic as Lugosi made him. The book also paints in all the details the camera left out but you always pictured: the passengers on that first coach, the fog pressing at the window of Lucy’s bedroom, and a policeman on his beat who sees something in white among the trees.

Characters with the faces you know

Close your eyes and you’ll see the original cast, because each role has been written to echo the actor who played it. Bela Lugosi’s courtly menace, Dwight Frye’s wide-eyed, spider-hungry Renfield and Edward Van Sloan’s spectacled, unyielding Van Helsing are all there, alongside Helen Chandler’s dreamy, haunted Mina, David Manners as the protective but bewildered Harker, Herbert Bunston as the affable Dr Seward and Frances Dade as the thrill-seeking Lucy Weston. Look out, too, for Charles Gerrard’s sardonic Martin and Michael Visaroff’s terrified innkeeper.

Printed for the shelf and the armchair

Produced in A4 format (210mm x 297mm), this softback has a strong, flexible PUR binding, full-colour silk stock pages inside and a luxury gloss laminated cover to finish.

Stills from the shadows

More than a hundred images from the film accompany the text, each lovingly cleaned up by hand. Printing them in full colour lends the black and white originals a warmth and depth they’ve rarely had before.

Light the lamp, tuck a sprig of wolfbane somewhere handy and settle in for a long night in Transylvania. You may find yourself glancing at the window more than once.

Complete your Dracula collection

• Dracula 1931 Ultimate Guide New Edition Magazine – the perfect partner to the novel, revealing how the film itself was made.
• The Universal Dracula Movies 1931-1948 Franchise Guide – the Count, his daughter and his son, across Universal’s classic era.

Also available in other editions

• Dracula 1931 Novelisation Signed + Art Print – signed softback with a free art print, limited to 250 worldwide
• Dracula 1931 Novelisation Signed Hardback – deluxe signed hardback with a free postcard set, limited to 50 worldwide
• Dracula 1931 Novelisation Exclusive Platinum Collector’s Set – one of each edition plus a bonus art print and a second postcard set, with a saving on shipping and cover prices

Specifications

• 100 pages
• Over 100 stills from the film
• A4 format (210mm x 297mm)
• PUR bound
• Full colour throughout
• Luxury gloss laminated cover
• Printed on fine silk stock paper