Product Description
Carmilla is the story that created the modern day vampire. The House of White version is the only one to present the original unabridged tale (the real story) of Countess Carmilla Karnstein in its entirety with original illustrations, a glossary of Victorian terminology used by Le Fanu, and masterpieces of art that deepen one's understanding of who Carmilla was instead of merely relying on a third-hand account of young girl's jaded memory, twenty years lost in passing.

Carmilla was the vampire to break the mold of rotting flesh and foul stench. She was the very first romantic vampire, and after inspiring Bram Stoker’s Dracula, she has continued with us, always in the shadow, influencing culture with a subtlety that is as alluring as it is elitist. A multi-layered story of love, loss, and a yearning for both a past and a future unobtainable, and finally of great sacrifice. Carmilla ranks as one of the world’s greattragedies. A lonely young girl living in a desolate area in Austria
is befriended by a young countess after what seems a chance encounter. Laura’s innocence and sheltered life prevents her from seeing the obvious, that her new friend Carmilla is a demon of the highest order, and one who has fallen passionately in love with her. Over time, Carmilla’s lust for Laura, and her soul, overpower her caution, and the serenity of a life of seclusion becomes a
nightmarish existence for Laura as her world unravels in ways that can never be repaired. The tale of Carmilla is enchanting and hypnotic to this day. The prose is pure Victorian, alien but accessible, set in a fashion that forces you to forget your daily existence while you fall down the spiral danse macabre with
Carmilla, Laura, and her devoted father. Best read late at night and alone, this story seduces you into a world far from everyday life, a world that extends no further than a day’s ride to the next village. This volume contains the original unabridged 1872 tale. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This is my favorite vampire story

Carmilla was the inspiration for Braum Stoker's "Dracula." Carmilla was also the first vampire to appear in the English language and transformed the wampyr from a loathesome ghoul into a delicate and beautiful creature. Carmilla, as a vampire is the foundation for every modern vampire from Lestat to the Twilight series. This short story leaves more to the imagination than it spells out, which is why it stays with you long after you have closed the back cover.

Simply the most important vampire story--ever. ... Read more

Product Description
A chance encounter at a summer party sent writer Josceline Dimbleby on a quest to uncover a mystery in her family’s past. After talking with Andrew Lloyd Webber about a beautiful, dark portrait in his art collection, she decided to find out more about the subject of the painting: her great-aunt Amy Gaskell. Dimbleby had always known her great-aunt’s face from this haunted portrait by the well-known Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, but beyond that and a family rumor that Amy had died young “of a broken heart,” Dimbleby knew little of her female forebears.

At the start of her search, Josceline came across a cache of unpublished letters from Burne-Jones to her great-grandmother May Gaskell, Amy’s mother. These letters turned out to be part of a passionate correspondence—adoring, intimate, sometimes up to five letters a day—which continued throughout the last six years of the painter’s life. As she read, more and more questions arose: Why did Burne-Jones feel he had to protect May from an overwhelming sadness? What was the deep secret she had confided to him? And what was the tragic truth behind Amy’s wayward, wandering life, her strange marriage, and her unexplained early death?

In piecing together the eventful life of her grandmother, Dimbleby takes us through a turbulent period in history that includes the Boer War, the Great War, and the Second World War and visits the most far-flung corners of the British Empire. The Souls—William Morris, Rudyard Kipling, and William Gladstone—all play a part in this sweeping, often funny, and sometimes tragic story. Above all, it is her infectious enthusiasm for a subject so close to home that makes May and Amy such a compelling and richly entertaining read.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

May and Amie
Grabbed me from the beginning. I love a good biography.I appreciate all the work involved and the connection to author and subject made it appealing also.
Well done.

Fascinating, Irresistable and Delicious!
This book came into my life while I was on holiday in Maui.I found it left in a condo I was renting.Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.It is the kind of book one will read until 3:00am because one wants to read just one more chapter before putting it aside for the night.I found this book mesmerizing.The dual excitement of accompanying the author on her detective mission into the history of her relatives along with the discovery of the life journey of her ancestors is one of the best adventures I have had in a long time.Ms. Dimbleby is already an accomplished writer, and her writing style is beautifully elegant and swiftly moving.Her ability to bring the personalities of some intensely fascinating Victorian era characters to warm-blooded life is awe inspiring.Serendipitously, her ancestors were similarly talented with a pen, prolific letter writers, and thereby preserved first person accounts of many of the most interesting events and issues of their time.One gets to know these people in an intimate way and feels an inkling of understanding about what motivated them, inspired them, made their lives worth living or took the desire to live away from them entirely.One also gets a bonus understanding of the Boer Wars and other military actions of the British Government during Victorian times.I loved this book and am delighted to have happened upon it as I did.A wonderful and rewarding read.Enjoy!

An interesting story of a mother and daughter during the mid-Victorian times
This is a rather difficult book to review because of the sub-title (ie: " ....A True Story of Family,Forbidden Love,and the Secret Lives of Mary Gaskell,her daughter Amy, and Sir Edward Burne-Jones").

Originally, I had purchased this book when I did a SEARCH for the Pre-Raphaelite Artist "Sir Edward Burne-Jones". Therefore, this book was one of the first results to come-up in my Search under "Burne-Jones".
I was therefore, entrigued by the sub-titles and I soon bought this book.

To start off with, if a reader is even somewhat familiar with the Pre-Raphelite Brotherhood, and particularly with Edward Burne-Jones, they would know that Edward Burne-Jones had the habit of writing many letters to pretty women that he had met along the way. Some of these "writing relationships" were just that---"writing relationships" (ie: not necessarily physical relationships,or not necessarily un-like that more famous Burne-Jones relationship with Mary Zambaco).

(PLEASE NOTE: Burne Jones got involved in these interesting female "relationships"while still married to his only wife: GEORGIE BURNE-JONES).

Anyhow, Burne-Jones was taken by pretty women that were "thin" (a MUST under his book) and/or also, by women that were quite fragile-looking. I don`t know why, but for some bizarre reason, Burne-Jones was repulsed by "fat" women (??).

So, according to the books I have read about Burne-Jones,once Burne-Jones was teken-in by that woman's thinness and fragile looks, he would soon expand his relationship to a more "intellectual relationship" (as he perceived it) .

Sometimes, these relationships became more physical, and sometimes NOT. (By the way, his wife GEORGIE was well aware of all of this).

Anyhow, one of the pretty women Burne-Jones encountered, (while still married to Georgie) was a woman named MAY GASKELL.
May Gaskell was a very interesting woman with an interseting background, adn this book will discuss these facts.

Therefore, the first half of this book by Dimbleby deals with May's background. This part of the book puts, in perspective, May's life --- and especially in context to a typical upper-middle-class VICTORIAN life. Thus, please keep this in mind while reading the first part of this book.

Once the reader becomes accustomed to May Gaskell's life, the reader will soon learn about May's relationship to her relatives and especially May's children. Specifically, one of May's favorite children was a beautiful daughter called AMY.

Amy, quickly becomes the focus of this Dimbleby book and along with wonderful photos of Amy and her many "boyfriends", Amy's personality begins to emerge throughout this book.

In a nutshell, Amy is a very complex person, just like her mother May.

Without giving too much away, Amy's life unfolds in the book and there are many pretty Victorian photos of Amy showing the reader why Amy must have been so admired by men and male Artists.

Next in this book, the reader becomes involved with the interesting "correspondence relationship" that Amy's mother , May, begins with Burne-Jones.

Once again, I don't want to give too much away, but I can say that through all the letters written between May and Burne-Jones, the reader can get a 'feel' for what may have been going on (or not) throughout their 'platonic' relationship.

I must stress that this book ("May and Amy") is rather a book about ONE aspect of Burne-Jones' life--and not about his entire life!Primarily, this book deals with the correspondences between Burne-Jones and May Gaskell. In these letters, a reader can gather what Burne-Jones may have been like. But since this book is primarily about May Gaskell (and Amy Gaskell), please note that this book is myopic in it's viewpoint,in regards to Georgie and Edward Burne-Jones.

Still, this book is quite intersting to read because it captures the essence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, via one participant (ie: Sir Edward Burne Jones) and ONE of his many friends (ie: May Gaskell).


... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
An illustrated edition of the Biblia Innocentium by Mackail was one of the last projects that Burne-Jones undertook for the Kelmscott Press. On his death he left twenty-five unfinished drawings which were completed by Catterson Smith who had worked with Burne-Jones on almost all of the Kelomscott books, transcribing the artist's designs for engraving. This book is a facsimile reprint of the first edition published in 1902 by Longmans Green & Co. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more