The mysterious Lord Ruthwen travels to Venice and strikes again, killing the beautiful Bettina and torturing her lover, Léonti, who swears to avenge her. He joins vampire hunters Aubrey and Nadoor Ali to search for the elusive monster... The character of the Byronesque vampire Lord Ruthven was first imagined in 1816 by John William Polidori on the same night that Mary Shelley created Frankenstein and published in 1819, becoming the first vampire in English fiction. The character of Lord Ruthven went on to inspire a number of famous French authors who penned their own versions of the tale. This is part of 4-volume selection of some French works featuring the first romantic vampire in the history of popular literature. Cyprien Bérard's The Vampire Lord Ruthwen (1820) was the first sequel to continue John-William Polidori's 1819 ground-breaking story that had introduced the character of the handsome, but evil Vampire lord. Also drawing upon The Thousand and One Nights for inspiration, Bérard weaves stories of mystical Venice, Arabian Nights and Vampire legends into one exotic and suspenseful tale of revenge against the Undead.
