London: Printed and Published by E. Lloyd, 12, Salisbury-Square, fleet-Street, n.d., [1847]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-584 577-584 593-868 [note: issue 74 is misnumbered issue 73 and the pagination of number 73 is duplicated], printed in double columns, numerous woodcut illustratioins, nineteenth-century three-quarter brown polished calf and marbled boards. First edition. The two parts numbered 73 are present, but part 74, pp. 585-592, chapters CXXVI-CXXVII, is missing. A lurid penny dreadful published initially as a serial in 109 weekly issues, 1845-1847, and here as a book in 1847. This long novel (864 double-column pages; 220 chapters) was a major influence on later vampire fiction. It includes many of the now standard vampire tropes and it is also the first example of the "sympathetic vampire," a vampire who despises his condition but is nonetheless a slave to it. "The first appearance of the vampire Sir Francis Varney marks a lurid achievement of the horrific; his tinlike eyes, taloned hands, and terrifying teeth are calculated to elicit shudders and revulsion. His victimization of young lovelies places him in line with Stoker's DRACULA and a host of other vampires whose intentions are undeniably sexual ... A pulp classic no aficionado of horror fiction can ignore" (Benjamin Franklin Fisher IV). "... unquestionably the most famous of the Lloyd bloods ... A striking example of low-level popular fiction for the working classes (and adolescents) ...." (Bleiler). [Reference: Baron, ed., Fantasy and Horror (1999) 1-132. Baron, ed., Horror Literature 2-87. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1629. Summers, A Gothic Bibliography, p. 543. Tymn, ed., Horror Literature 2-81. Bleiler (1978), p. 172. Reginald 14580].