Audiobook · read by volunteers
Varney, the Vampyre Vol. 1
Thomas Peckett Prest (1810–1859)
Read by Annika Feilbach, Roger Melin, scottjns, Jodi Krangle, Elisabetta Corti, Nancy Roberts, Jonathan Horniblow, Sibella Denton, Belinda Brown, LMTobias · 63 chapters · 21 h 05
About the book
A storm is raging, a figure appears at a window and a young woman, Flora Bannerworth, is left terrified in her room: so begins Varney the Vampyre, one of the most extravagant of Victorian popular fictions. It was first published as a penny dreadful in weekly instalments from 1845 until 1847, and it tells of a mysterious figure who haunts a family and hides a terrible nature. It is a forerunner of the vampire stories that followed, and it heavily influenced Dracula. This is volume one of three, and its sixty-three parts offer cliffhangers, pursuits, secrets and gothic atmosphere in generous measure. Ten LibriVox volunteers share the reading between them, which lasts about twenty-one hours. A long, strange and thoroughly entertaining listen, with all the excess of its original serial form.
Introduction
Varney the Vampyre is a Victorian horror novel, attributed to Thomas Peckett Prest, who lived from 1810 to 1859. It was originally published as a penny dreadful, a cheap weekly serial aimed at a mass readership, from 1845 until 1847, and it first appeared in book form in 1847 or soon afterwards, running to an enormous length. Authorship has long been discussed, and some scholars credit another writer, James Malcolm Rymer, so it is wise to treat the attribution with care.
The story is a forerunner of vampire fiction, often credited with giving the vampire sharp teeth and the two marks on the neck, and heavily influenced the tales that followed, among them Dracula. It begins with the haunting of the Bannerworth family, and especially of Flora Bannerworth, by the mysterious Varney, and it develops through many episodes of pursuit, discovery and escape. Its serial origins explain its structure: each chapter aims to end on a moment of tension, and the narrative spreads in many directions.
The book is classed as horror and supernatural fiction. Modern readers will find it exuberant and often melodramatic, and the length of the whole work is formidable. For that reason, the recording presents only the first volume of the three.
This volume has sixty-three parts, beginning with a preface, and ten LibriVox volunteers share the reading. It lasts about twenty-one hours. Today it is worth hearing for those who are curious about the roots of the vampire in popular literature, and for anyone who enjoys the pleasures of serial storytelling in its most exaggerated form.
Public domain
Thomas Peckett Prest died in 1859: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text