1929 First American Edition With Donald H. Mader Provenance
THE VAMPIRE: HIS KITH AND KIN
By Rev Montague Summers
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Very Good
Format: Hardcover, 8vo; original publisher's textured cloth with gilt lettering
Published By: E.P. Dutton & Company, New York, 1929
Language: English
Provenance: Rev. Donald H. Mader (1948–2022)
Collation: xvi, 356 pp., with eight black-and-white plates, including the frontispiece. Bibliography and index.
SKU: BTETM0002073
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
DESCRIPTION
The Vampire: His Kith and Kin
The 1929 first American edition of The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, Montague Summers' influential investigation into vampire folklore, supernatural beliefs and the historical traditions surrounding the undead. First published in London by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. in 1928, the work remains one of the most recognisable early twentieth-century studies of vampirism.
A scholar of witchcraft, demonology and supernatural literature, Summers approached the vampire not merely as a figure of popular imagination but as a phenomenon he considered worthy of serious theological and historical investigation. Drawing upon classical sources, European folklore, ecclesiastical writings, historical accounts and Gothic literature, he assembled an extensive survey of vampire beliefs across cultures and centuries.
The work examines the supposed origins and generation of vampires, their characteristics and practices, accounts from ancient civilisations, and their development in literature. Summers' treatment is particularly distinctive for its combination of considerable historical learning with an apparent conviction that supernatural manifestations could possess an objective reality.
Illustrated with eight black-and-white plates, the volume includes imagery relating to historical vampire traditions, supernatural apparitions and nineteenth-century Gothic literature. It concludes with an extensive bibliography and index.
Published three years before the celebrated 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the book occupies an important position in the development of modern vampire studies. Summers followed it with The Vampire in Europe (1929), extending his investigations into regional traditions and historical accounts.
An appealing original American edition of a significant work of occult and supernatural literature, retaining its publisher's cloth binding and accompanied by documented twentieth-century ownership provenance.
PROVENANCE
Rev. Donald H. Mader (1948–2022)
From the library of Donald H. Mader, an American-born scholar, clergyman, photographer and literary researcher who lived and worked in the Netherlands.
Mader studied at Michigan State University and Union Theological Seminary, New York, and was ordained in the Reformed Church in America in 1976. He subsequently became associated with the Pauluskerk in Rotterdam and pursued literary and historical research, particularly concerning the Uranian poets of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His published scholarship included The Greek Mirror: The Uranians and Their Use of Greece (2005), examining the influence of classical Greek culture upon British and American Uranian poetry.
Mader's research interests provide a relevant literary context for his ownership of works by Montague Summers, whose early poetry and association with Uranian literary circles form part of his wider literary career.
The volume bears Mader's distinctive illustrated Ex Libris Donald H. Mader bookplate to the front pastedown.
Please note: The bookplate depicts a nude male figure and is reproduced in the accompanying photographs. Its presence forms part of the book's ownership history.
Subsequent Sale
Zwiggelaar Auctions, Amsterdam, Auction 28, 5 December 2022, Lot 223, Ten Works by Montague Summers, comprising editions of Summers' writings and associated bibliographical and biographical works.
The present volume was acquired from this auction lot by Books That Expand The Mind.
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
COLLATION
xvi, 356 pp., with eight black-and-white plates, including the frontispiece. Bibliography and index.
An original publisher's cloth-bound copy, retaining its gilt lettering to the upper cover and spine.
Some bumping and light wear to the spine head and tail, with minor general wear consistent with age. The binding retains a generally attractive appearance.
Internally, the pages are predominantly clean, with some age-toning and occasional light spotting. Donald H. Mader's illustrated ownership bookplate is affixed to the front pastedown.
The bookplate depicts a nude male figure and should be considered when assessing the copy's condition and suitability. It is shown in the listing photographs.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
REFERENCES
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1928. First English edition.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1929. First American edition.
Zwiggelaar Auctions, Auction 28, Amsterdam, 5 December 2022, Lot 223, Ten Works by Montague Summers.
Mader, D. H. “The Greek Mirror: The Uranians and Their Use of Greece.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 49, 2005, pp. 377–420.
SYNOPSIS
In The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, Montague Summers explores one of humanity's most persistent supernatural beliefs: the possibility that the dead may return to prey upon the living.
Beginning with the origins of vampire traditions, Summers investigates the circumstances believed to produce vampires and the characteristics by which they might be recognised. He examines historical testimonies, religious beliefs, burial customs, supernatural phenomena and accounts of the restless dead from diverse cultural traditions.
His investigations range from the ancient Near East to the vampire legends of Europe, exploring the relationships between death, superstition, theology and the supernatural.
The concluding chapter traces the vampire's emergence in literature, examining the transformation of traditional beliefs into the fictional figure familiar to readers of Gothic and supernatural writing.
Unlike later folklorists who approached vampirism primarily as mythology or cultural history, Summers frequently wrote as though the supernatural forces he described might genuinely exist. This perspective gives the work its distinctive combination of antiquarian scholarship, religious conviction and macabre fascination.
Today, The Vampire: His Kith and Kin remains an important historical source for understanding both the vampire tradition and the development of twentieth-century occult literature.
The principal chapters comprise:
The Origins of the Vampire
The Generation of the Vampire
The Traits and Practice of Vampirism
The Vampire in Assyria, the East, and Some Ancient Countries
The Vampire in Literature
AUTHOR BIO
Augustus Montague Summers (1880–1948) was an English author, literary scholar and writer on witchcraft, demonology, vampirism and supernatural history.
Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, Summers initially pursued an Anglican clerical career before adopting a Roman Catholic identity, although his claims to Catholic priestly status have remained disputed.
His early literary activities included poetry associated with the decadent and Uranian traditions, followed by studies of Restoration drama and seventeenth-century literature. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1916.
Summers achieved wider recognition through his writings on witchcraft and the supernatural, beginning with The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926), followed by The Geography of Witchcraft (1927), The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928), The Vampire in Europe (1929) and The Werewolf (1933).
He also produced an influential English translation of the Malleus Maleficarum (1928).
His works remain notable for their extensive use of historical sources and their unusual combination of literary scholarship, traditional religious belief and apparent acceptance of supernatural phenomena.
1929 First American Edition With Donald H. Mader Provenance
THE VAMPIRE: HIS KITH AND KIN
By Rev Montague Summers
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Very Good
Format: Hardcover, 8vo; original publisher's textured cloth with gilt lettering
Published By: E.P. Dutton & Company, New York, 1929
Language: English
Provenance: Rev. Donald H. Mader (1948–2022)
Collation: xvi, 356 pp., with eight black-and-white plates, including the frontispiece. Bibliography and index.
SKU: BTETM0002073
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
DESCRIPTION
The Vampire: His Kith and Kin
The 1929 first American edition of The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, Montague Summers' influential investigation into vampire folklore, supernatural beliefs and the historical traditions surrounding the undead. First published in London by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. in 1928, the work remains one of the most recognisable early twentieth-century studies of vampirism.
A scholar of witchcraft, demonology and supernatural literature, Summers approached the vampire not merely as a figure of popular imagination but as a phenomenon he considered worthy of serious theological and historical investigation. Drawing upon classical sources, European folklore, ecclesiastical writings, historical accounts and Gothic literature, he assembled an extensive survey of vampire beliefs across cultures and centuries.
The work examines the supposed origins and generation of vampires, their characteristics and practices, accounts from ancient civilisations, and their development in literature. Summers' treatment is particularly distinctive for its combination of considerable historical learning with an apparent conviction that supernatural manifestations could possess an objective reality.
Illustrated with eight black-and-white plates, the volume includes imagery relating to historical vampire traditions, supernatural apparitions and nineteenth-century Gothic literature. It concludes with an extensive bibliography and index.
Published three years before the celebrated 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the book occupies an important position in the development of modern vampire studies. Summers followed it with The Vampire in Europe (1929), extending his investigations into regional traditions and historical accounts.
An appealing original American edition of a significant work of occult and supernatural literature, retaining its publisher's cloth binding and accompanied by documented twentieth-century ownership provenance.
PROVENANCE
Rev. Donald H. Mader (1948–2022)
From the library of Donald H. Mader, an American-born scholar, clergyman, photographer and literary researcher who lived and worked in the Netherlands.
Mader studied at Michigan State University and Union Theological Seminary, New York, and was ordained in the Reformed Church in America in 1976. He subsequently became associated with the Pauluskerk in Rotterdam and pursued literary and historical research, particularly concerning the Uranian poets of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His published scholarship included The Greek Mirror: The Uranians and Their Use of Greece (2005), examining the influence of classical Greek culture upon British and American Uranian poetry.
Mader's research interests provide a relevant literary context for his ownership of works by Montague Summers, whose early poetry and association with Uranian literary circles form part of his wider literary career.
The volume bears Mader's distinctive illustrated Ex Libris Donald H. Mader bookplate to the front pastedown.
Please note: The bookplate depicts a nude male figure and is reproduced in the accompanying photographs. Its presence forms part of the book's ownership history.
Subsequent Sale
Zwiggelaar Auctions, Amsterdam, Auction 28, 5 December 2022, Lot 223, Ten Works by Montague Summers, comprising editions of Summers' writings and associated bibliographical and biographical works.
The present volume was acquired from this auction lot by Books That Expand The Mind.
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
COLLATION
xvi, 356 pp., with eight black-and-white plates, including the frontispiece. Bibliography and index.
An original publisher's cloth-bound copy, retaining its gilt lettering to the upper cover and spine.
Some bumping and light wear to the spine head and tail, with minor general wear consistent with age. The binding retains a generally attractive appearance.
Internally, the pages are predominantly clean, with some age-toning and occasional light spotting. Donald H. Mader's illustrated ownership bookplate is affixed to the front pastedown.
The bookplate depicts a nude male figure and should be considered when assessing the copy's condition and suitability. It is shown in the listing photographs.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
REFERENCES
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1928. First English edition.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1929. First American edition.
Zwiggelaar Auctions, Auction 28, Amsterdam, 5 December 2022, Lot 223, Ten Works by Montague Summers.
Mader, D. H. “The Greek Mirror: The Uranians and Their Use of Greece.” Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 49, 2005, pp. 377–420.
SYNOPSIS
In The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, Montague Summers explores one of humanity's most persistent supernatural beliefs: the possibility that the dead may return to prey upon the living.
Beginning with the origins of vampire traditions, Summers investigates the circumstances believed to produce vampires and the characteristics by which they might be recognised. He examines historical testimonies, religious beliefs, burial customs, supernatural phenomena and accounts of the restless dead from diverse cultural traditions.
His investigations range from the ancient Near East to the vampire legends of Europe, exploring the relationships between death, superstition, theology and the supernatural.
The concluding chapter traces the vampire's emergence in literature, examining the transformation of traditional beliefs into the fictional figure familiar to readers of Gothic and supernatural writing.
Unlike later folklorists who approached vampirism primarily as mythology or cultural history, Summers frequently wrote as though the supernatural forces he described might genuinely exist. This perspective gives the work its distinctive combination of antiquarian scholarship, religious conviction and macabre fascination.
Today, The Vampire: His Kith and Kin remains an important historical source for understanding both the vampire tradition and the development of twentieth-century occult literature.
The principal chapters comprise:
The Origins of the Vampire
The Generation of the Vampire
The Traits and Practice of Vampirism
The Vampire in Assyria, the East, and Some Ancient Countries
The Vampire in Literature
AUTHOR BIO
Augustus Montague Summers (1880–1948) was an English author, literary scholar and writer on witchcraft, demonology, vampirism and supernatural history.
Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, Summers initially pursued an Anglican clerical career before adopting a Roman Catholic identity, although his claims to Catholic priestly status have remained disputed.
His early literary activities included poetry associated with the decadent and Uranian traditions, followed by studies of Restoration drama and seventeenth-century literature. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1916.
Summers achieved wider recognition through his writings on witchcraft and the supernatural, beginning with The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926), followed by The Geography of Witchcraft (1927), The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928), The Vampire in Europe (1929) and The Werewolf (1933).
He also produced an influential English translation of the Malleus Maleficarum (1928).
His works remain notable for their extensive use of historical sources and their unusual combination of literary scholarship, traditional religious belief and apparent acceptance of supernatural phenomena.
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