In a move described by the publisher as “a bit crazy,” Morning Bell Edition has announced the addition of a second, limited-edition book to its ongoing Frankenstein Kickstarter campaign to celebrate the project’s success in surpassing $200,000 in funding. The new offering is John Polidori’s short story, The Vampyre, coupled with Lord Byron’s related work, The Fragment. This addition completes the collection of literary works famously conceived at Villa Diodati during the “Year Without a Summer” in 1816.
The 64-page letterpress edition of The Vampyre is limited to just 250 copies. True to the publisher’s commitment to historical authenticity, the text will be presented in its original 1819 standalone book form. This mirrors the approach taken with their edition of Frankenstein, which reprints the original 1818 edition of Mary Shelley’s gothic science fiction novel.
The new cover is crafted from turquoise blue leather, hot-stamped with bright red for the illustration and dark gold for the title. A cut-out will reveal the intricate decorative pattern of the endpaper underneath. Inside, the book will be printed in letterpress with silver ink on black paper, and feature two full-page illustrations and a double-page endpaper by the Italian comic book artist and illustrator Grazia La Padula.
For enthusiasts looking to house MBE’s complete Villa Diodati collection, MBE has also introduced a special commemorative box designed to hold both the Frankenstein edition (with a custom-sized internal cutout to fit any edition or slipcase variation) and the new The Vampyre + The Fragment volume.
The new Vampyre add-on and the special collector’s box are available immediately via MBE’s Kickstarter campaign. Backers can modify their existing pledges on the Kickstarter campaign page by selecting “The Vampyre by John Polidori” add-on. The campaign also highlights a new feature from the platform, which now allows payment in three installments.
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