The Rose Prince

By Bram Stoker

First published in 1881, "The Rose Prince" is a short story by Bram Stoker. It was first published in Stoker's first collection of short stories entitled “Under the Sunset” and is presented here in a modern edition for the enjoyment of literature lovers the world over. A fantastical tale that will not disappoint those who have read and enjoyed other works by this master of the fantasy, “The Rose Prince” constitutes a must-read for all lovers of fiction. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (1847 – 1912) was an Irish author most famous for his 1897 Gothic novel “Dracula”, a seminal book that continues to influence the vampire genre in print and film to this day. Other notable works by this author include: “Miss Betty” (1898), “The Mystery of the Sea” (1902), and “The Jewel of Seven Stars” (1903). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fantasy and Horror Classics
• Release date: Jun 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528768702

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was an Irish novelist. Born in Dublin, Stoker suffered from an unknown illness as a young boy before entering school at the age of seven. He would later remark that the time he spent bedridden enabled him to cultivate his imagination, contributing to his later success as a writer. He attended Trinity College, Dublin from 1864, graduating with a BA before returning to obtain an MA in 1875. After university, he worked as a theatre critic, writing a positive review of acclaimed Victorian actor Henry Irving’s production of Hamlet that would spark a lifelong friendship and working relationship between them. In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe before moving to London, where he would work for the next 27 years as business manager of Irving’s influential Lyceum Theatre. Between his work in London and travels abroad with Irving, Stoker befriended such artists as Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Hall Caine, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1895, having published several works of fiction and nonfiction, Stoker began writing his masterpiece Dracula (1897) while vacationing at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in Cruden Bay, Scotland. Stoker continued to write fiction for the rest of his life, achieving moderate success as a novelist. Known more for his association with London theatre during his life, his reputation as an artist has grown since his death, aided in part by film and television adaptations of Dracula, the enduring popularity of the horror genre, and abundant interest in his work from readers and scholars around the world.

Book preview

BRAM STOKER

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1847. Stoker was a semi-invalid as a child, and was bedridden until he started school at the age of seven. However, he made a full recovery and went on to excel as an athlete at Trinity College, which he enrolled at in 1864. Stoker graduated with honours in mathematics in 1870, and was also president of the university's philosophical society.

Stoker developed an interest in theatre, and became theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail in his early twenties. It was following a favourable review he gave of an 1876 Henry Irving production of Hamlet that Stoker and Irving struck up a friendship. Three years later, in the same year that Stoker married Florence Balcombe (whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde), he became acting-manager and then business manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre - a post he went on to hold for 27 years. As a result of his close friendship with Irving (the most famous actor of his day), Stoker became something of a socialite. He mingled with London's high society, meeting writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and travelled extensively in the United States, where he spent time with both Theodore Roosevelt and Walt Whitman.

While working for Irving, Stoker began to write novels, eventually producing a total of fifteen works of fiction. Although most met with at least mild success, Stoker is best known for his 1897 publication, Dracula. This work - an epistolary novel weaving hypnotism, magic, the supernatural, and other elements of Gothic fiction - went on to sell over one million copies, and has never been out of print. Today, the novel and its eponymous protagonist remain so well-known that one can actually visit the castle of Count Dracula in the Transylvanian region of Romania - despite the fact that Stoker never even went there himself.

After a series of strokes, Stoker died in London in 1912, aged 64.

THE ROSE PRINCE.

A LONG, long time ago—so long ago that if one tries to think ever so far back, it is