Index & Introduction: Anyone curious about the legendary background of vampires is soon bound to stumble across Montague Summers, whose writings in the 1920s established him as the foremost authority of the time and, as it happens, ever since.

The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929) investigated the subject and all its ramifications in fantastic detail, presenting a record of folk beliefs about death and vampires that is unlikely to be equaled for sheer scope and depth.

The text for these chapters has been abridged from The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, published by Kegan Paul in New York in 1928.

Note from Shades:

• All these pages (the text) have been edited by Nigel Suckling, who did a wonderful job!