Dracula: Complete, Original Text (Forgotten Books)

Review of the BARNES FLEXIBOUND EDITION. I wish more people would state which edition they were reviewing, since Amazon group them altogether!Bought as a gift and this edition is beautiful. I love the vibrant colour and the flexible cover.My only gripe was a few fine scuffs here and there due to Amazons poor packaging/postal handing. Not much to say...let my photos do the talking!

On a recent trip to Whitby, With my elderly parents, I needed a book to read to while away my time in my hotel room (which had a clear view of the Abbey ruins, the church and Whitby harbour). My location dictated my choice of novel - Dracula. Although I am not a fan of horror, I felt it might be fun to read a book where important locations were visible from my room. I am so glad I did!I found the book to be enthralling. Bram stoker put seven years of research into the book, drawing ideas from diverse areas to flesh out his characters and locations, for example his knowledge of Transylvanian customs was gleaned from a book in Whitby library, written by a civil servant posted in the embassy!Stoker narrates the book by use of the diaries and journals of the main characters in a wonderfully learned manner which allows him to leap all over the show, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride.No Dracula movie has ever done justice to Stokers gothic masterpiece. Go on, be a devil, read the book.

Okay, so you might be thinking who the hell am I to be doing a review of Bram Stoker? He’s a classic, you must have a Degree in Literature, several years publishing knowledge and be widely read on all Classical Literature right?Well, that’s exactly the thought that made me want to post this review. I’ll start with the confession. I managed to make it to the ripe old age of 27 without having ever read Dracula. The proper novel. I have read a lot of authors in this genre, Anne Rice, Rachel Caine, Stephenie Meyer, Laurell K Hamilton, Charlaine Harris etc etc. Not to mention the countless movie’s. I would say in some ways I’m addicted to this genre yet I had never read the proper Dracula *hangs head in shame*.So anyway, to the review. The reason I wanted to review this book is because it is actually amazing. Published in 1897, you would expect this novel to be stuffy and uptight, full of complicated language that is no longer in use, or that you cannot get your head around (*cough – we have all read classics like this, don’t deny it!). This is different, it flows so well, it’s exciting, and despite the many retellings I did wonder at one point which way the story would go.The story is what we all know in love. The young, dashing, soon to be wed, Jonathan Harker visits Count Dracula to sort out some paperwork. However he soon works out that Castle is not all it seems and neither is the enigmatic Dracula. Soon Lucy begins sleepwalking nightly and each day feels more and more retched, can the intelligent Dr Abraham Van Helsing save her? What about poor Mina, Harkers fiancée, who also starts to suffer in a similar manner?So there you have it, probably the same review others have made regurgitated in a prosaic manner, but hopefully it may inspire just a few individuals who are undecided to read this book and see if they agree.

I'm not sure it's worth my reviewing the story in this book, since everyone is so familiar with it. But if you haven't actually read this original version then it is well worth doing so, if you can cope with the beautiful classic writing style.The main reason I wanted to do this review was to let you know just how nice this book is physically.The format is a Flexibound Edition by Barnes & Noble. It's basically a faux leather-bound cover. Obviously not real leather, it is a soft feel plastic or rubber which is marginally flexible in the hand.The first and last pages are backed in the old-world style using frantically patterned end papers.The page edges are colour sprayed to complement the cover.There is also a page marking ribbon.Even the relatively thick paper stock has slightly off white colouring and lends itself to the feel of an old original collectable.In short, for the incredibly low retail price of this book you get an absolutely stunning edition, which looks fantastic on the shelf in a collected set and feels great in the hand as you read. Barnes and Noble do a nice collection in this format. Just search for (Barnes Noble Flexibound editions) on Amazon.

I bought this because it is described as a Penguin Classics edition and is as described but the text of the story is not original: it has been amended. It is a pity Maurice Hindle [Editor] and Christopher Frayling [Professor of Cultural History] didn't mention that fact. Maybe they didn't know or maybe they feel that the reader doesn't need to know that the text is different from Mr Stoker's original.Q:How is it different?A:Like so many books nowadays the punctuation has been changed to suit publishers' custom and practice. At school, I was taught that the spoken word appears on the page enclosed in double commas [speech marks]. No doubt you were too. Quoted speech appears between single commas. Sadly, the British publishers have corrupted our written language by transposing the use of those punctuation marks. It seems unlikely, but true, that publishers in the USA have retained the correct use of punctuation marks.So, now that we know two highly qualified experts in English literature collaborated to adulterate a classic piece of work, what other amendments have they made to the text?I can't yet tell you but if I ever find an original copy, or as close to one as possible, I will let you know.