Dracula illustration by Barry Moser
There have been many cinematic depictions of Dracula throughout the years (see our Vampire display downstairs near the Reference offices for an overview) and many of us probably think of Bela Lugosi’s Count Dracula as the stereotypic vampire. However, Bram Stoker’s literary description of Dracula is quite different. In the book, Dracula is described as being both old and young and has a “look of hate” about his face. His eyes are red, face waxen, and he has a “high” nose like an eagle’s beak with “peculiarly arched nostrils”. Johnathan Harker describes the Count’s mouth: “The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruding over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years.”