The Vampyre; a Tale

John William Polidori (1795-1821) was a writer and medical doctor, most noted for being the personal physician to Lord Byron. He wrote the first vampire novel ever published in English, 70 years before Dracula. His sister married exiled Italian scholar Gabriele Rossetti, making John an uncle to Maria Francesca Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti and Christina Rossetti.