Peter Haining: A Dictionary of Vampires

Since I gave you a holy grail of vampire encyclopedias last week, I can't help but show you another example. This, as you could've read, is a dictionary. Which basically works using the same principle as the previous encyclopedia - the alphabetical order. 

Sure, if you take a look at how this one look, you can see it pales in comparison. I mean, it's only got 288 pages as opposed to Melton's humble 850. But it doesn't neccesarily mean this book is not worth opening. Not all the keywords are the same which makes this book as important of a source as the Melton's monster of a book.

Which brings us to the bright point of the day - you can take this one on a trip with you and not bother with its weight. The employees at the airport won't even accuse you of having bricks in your cabin luggage. Ha, you didn't see that coming, did you?!

I will not bother you with talking about how important books like these are when you are starting your research and have no idea which end to grasp first. There are so many keywords and ideas which will help you. Yup, it may be a little oudated but who cares? Vampires have been here for some time and some things never change so you won't even notice which year it was published in.

And having a few dictionaries or encyclopedias like these will never hurt - you can always have fun comparing data - I managed to get frustrated when getting years of some publications for my diploma thesis because the authors sometimes vary in them. Who the heck am I supposed to believe?! I know it's mostly just a year difference but I wanted to get things right... Oh, the decisions...

 

J. Gordon Melton: The Vampire Book, The Encyclopedia of the Undead

Wow, it's been a while since I presented some kind of non-fiction about vampires. Not that non-fiction about fictional characters makes much sense, but you know what I mean. I hope. 

This time I'm bringing a load of knowledge. Duh, that's what encyclopedias are for after all. It's over 850 pages long. I won't tell you how much it weighs because that would make some people cringe. But let's say if you have a question about something on the topic of vampirism you have your chance to actually learn about it while consulting this monster of a book. 

The format is typical - you look for keywords which are in alphabetical order. Now and then there is either a photo or illustration (a photo of a vampire?! no, you fool! but the author mentions some actors or writers, so...). 

What I find helpful (or maybe not, my version of this book is from 1994 so the info can be a bit outdated) are the apendices at the end of the book. It goes from the typical lists of publications and resources to various fanclubs (you could have joined Loyalists of the Vampire Realm if you wanted back in the day) and to quite long filmography, drama and novels lists.

Just like any ecyclopedia, this is a good starting point for your own research. This is a must-have for all you loyalists or whatever name you go under. ;-)= 

Judyth A. McLeod: Vampires. A Bite-sized History

This books looks amazing - silver lined pages, great illustrations, and a pocket size format. Which means it is a shallow-reader friendly material. Which means it could attract younger readers. So, parents, who want your kids to start reading something more mature than Twilight, take notice of this.

Apart from the well-chosen design, this book contains just the right amount of information. Sure, you can guess that given the format it won't overflow with data but it gives you the basics. The author took the vampire myth chronologically and briefly described as different cultures all over the world dealt with it. Basically the most important vampire "incidents" are mentioned in the book.

And apart from the historic events the book is spiced up by short chapter on pretty much anything from how to recognize a vampire or how to deal with it to the vampire brides theme. 

I really like the book because it gives a very short yet interesting listing of all the most important and influential vampire myths and themes in different cultures from ancient times to modern movie-oriented era. 

I believe the book is great for someone who has no prior knowledge of the vampire myth in real world (fiction doesn't count, this is about the real origins) and wants to get a nice and complete view on history of this phenomenon without being bored to death.