(26 Oct 2014) A vampire slaying kit, a manuscript of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and a letter thought to be written by Jack The Ripper are some of the artefacts in a ghostly exhibition exploring 250 years of gothic literature.
In the 1760s, British writer Horace Walpole inadvertently named the gothic genre and it still exists today, inspiring films like the 'Twilight' vampire series.
A vampire slaying kit - complete with wooden stakes, a mallet, pistol and crucifix.
It dates back to the mid-Victorian era and although there's no evidence it was ever used to sleigh any vicious vampires, there's thought to be around 80 similar kits in existence today.
The kit is now taking pride of place in an exhibition at London's British Library which explores 250 years of gothic literature.
There's 1960s film posters, Frankenstein comic books and an old painting depicting bandits; a regular feature in gothic novels during the late 18th century.
"Terror and Wonder celebrates 250 years of gothic literature, British gothic literature, right from the start in 1764 with Horace Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' and takes the story up to 2014 and looks at the modern day goth scene," says Tim Pye, the exhibition's lead curator.
In 1765, British writer Horace Walpole published the second edition of his novel 'The Castle of Otranto'.
This version included the subtitle 'a Gothic story' and also identified Walpole as the author for the first time.
The novel tells the story of Manfred, the Prince of Otranto (a town in Italy), and his attempts to secure the castle for his descendants.
Readers loved it and the 500 copies of the first edition sold out quickly.
"So, Horace Walpole, he had a nightmare in the summer of 1764 and he woke from that nightmare and for the next eight weeks he wrote his nightmare down into a novel," explains Pye.
"And he issued that novel and the second edition of it, he subtitled it 'A Gothic Story'. And by calling it a gothic story he inadvertently named the genre that still exists today."
The exhibition also features perhaps gothic literature's most famed character; Dracula.
Vampires had featured in gothic literature before but after its publication in 1897, Dracula took centre-stage.
The book highlighted Victorian concerns about immigration and disease.
The exhibition features Bram Stoker's manuscript for the theatre adaptation of 'Dracula'.
It was assembled before the novel's publication and is thought to have been produced so the writer could protect the dramatic rights of his book.
"One of the key pieces in the exhibition is a manuscript of 'Dracula' in Stoker's own hand," says Pye.
"It's a dramatised version that he produced to protect the copyright of his story. And he had it read through on stage a few weeks before the novel was released. And it just goes to show that Stoker already knew that his story might well be popular and it's endured because at the time it was reacting to new developments in society, but with each generation the vampire myth has been changed and developed."
The exhibition also features a letter thought to have been written by Jack The Ripper, an unidentified Victorian serial killer who stalked London in the late 1880s.
The letter - named 'Dear Boss' - was received by a news agency on 27 September 1888 and was passed on to police two days later.
While police received several letters claiming to be from the murderer, this letter referenced details of a murder discovered just a few days later.
"It was a letter that was sent to a news agency at the time of the Whitechapel murders and was written by someone purporting to be Jack the Ripper," says Pye.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
