Editing Dracula (section)

== Textual history ==
=== Composition ===
[[File:Stoker Dracula Notes Personal.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=The author's handwritten notes about the novel's characters|Handwritten notes about the novel's characters]]
Prior to writing the novel, Stoker researched extensively, assembling over 100 pages of notes, including chapter summaries and plot outlines.{{sfn|Bierman|1998|p=152}}{{Efn|The notes were sold by Bram Stoker's widow, Florence, in 1913, to a New York book dealer for £2.{{nbsp}}2[[Shilling (British coin)|s]], ({{Inflation|UK|2.1|1913|2019|fmt=eq|cursign=UK£}}). Following that, the notes became the property of [[Charles Scribner's Sons]], and then disappeared until they were bought by the [[Rosenbach Museum and Library]] in Philadelphia in 1970.{{Sfn|Barsanti|2008|p=1}} For a list of works that use Stoker's notes, see [[Dracula#Studies on Dracula's notes]].}} Stoker undertook some of his research at a library at Whitby in the summer of 1890 but most was done at the [[London Library]].{{Sfn|Stoker|2019|pp=16, 282–286}} The earliest dated notes are from 8 March 1890, comprising an outline of the novel's opening.{{Sfn|Frayling|Miller|2005|p=170}} Joseph S. Beirman notes that it differs from the final novel "in only a few details": The Count and Harker are not given names. The word ''vampire'' is not used explicitly, but it depicts the Count's possessive fury over Harker and a female who attempts "to kiss him not on lips but throat".{{Sfn|Bierman|1977|p=40}}{{Sfn|Frayling|Miller|2005|p=170}} In February 1892, Stoker wrote a 27-chapter outline of the novel; according to Miller, "all the key pieces of the jigsaw were in place".{{Sfn|Frayling|Miller|2005|pp=176–177}}

Stoker's notes reveal other scrapped concepts. Bierman says that Stoker always intended to write an epistolary novel but originally set it in Styria instead of Transylvania.{{Sfn|Bierman|1977|p=40}} Other concepts from the notes include a German professor called Max Windshoeffel confronting a "Count Wampyr" and one of the vampire hunters would have been slain by a [[werewolf]].{{Sfn|Eighteen-Bisang|Miller|2008|p=318}}{{Efn|In their annotated version of Stoker's notes, Eighteen-Bisang and Miller dedicated an appendix to what the novel might have looked like had Stoker adhered to his original concept.{{Sfn|Eighteen-Bisang|Miller|2008|p=320}}}} Stoker biographer Barbara Belford notes evidence that Stoker intended to write a [[Detective fiction|detective story]], with a detective called Cotford and a [[psychical investigator]] called Singleton.{{Sfn|Belford|2002|p=241}}

Stoker took the name Dracula from William Wilkinson's history of Wallachia and Moldavia (1820),{{Sfn|Killeen|2023|p=178}} which he probably found in Whitby's public library while holidaying there in 1890.{{Sfn|Eighteen-Bisang|Miller|2008|p=4}} Stoker copied the following footnote from the book: "Dracula means devil. Wallachians were accustomed to give it as a surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous by courage, cruel actions or cunning".{{Sfn|Eighteen-Bisang|Miller|2008|p=245}}

Stoker stated that that it took him about three years to write the novel, and it is likely that he wrote most of the manuscript during his summer holidays in [[Cruden Bay]], Scotland from 1893 to 1896.{{Sfn|Stoker|2019|pp=16, 252}} Stoker generally wrote in spare time from his duties as Irving's business manager, and the long gestation of the novel is indicative of the importance he placed on it.{{Sfn|Hopkins|2007|pp=4–6}}{{Sfn|Stoker|2019|p=15}}

=== Publication ===
[[File:Dracamer99.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Book cover of 1899 edition. It has the name and title of the novel on a yellow-orange cover, depicting Dracula's castle upon a hill|1899 first American edition, [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday & McClure]], New York]]
Early Stoker biographer Barbara Belford noted the novel looked "shabby" because of a last-minute title change;{{Sfn|Belford|2002|p=272}} the printer's copy of the typescript, with hand-written amendments, is titled ''The Un-Dead''.{{Sfn|Stoker|2019|p=191}}{{Efn|As the typescript under the title ''The Un-Dead'' bears the copyright date 1897 and the first known advertisement for the novel under the title ''Dracula'' appeared on 8 May 1897, Paul McAlduff concludes that the title was changed sometime between 1 January and 8 May that year.{{Sfn|McAlduff|2012|p=42}}}} The surviving typewritten publishing agreement was signed and dated 25 May 1897; Peter Beal of [[Sotheby's]] suggests its signing one day before the official publication date indicates that it was a formality.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=245}} To protect his copyright interest for adaptations,{{Efn|This was necessary under the Stage Licensing Act of 1897.{{Sfn|Buzwell|2014}}}} Stoker organised a reading of his stage adaptation of the novel in the week before publication in the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum Theatre]]. A small group, primarily theatre staff, attended the reading, and [[Edith Craig]] played Mina.{{Sfn|Miller|2005a|pp=72–73}}

Bound in yellow cloth and titled in red letters, ''Dracula'' was published in May 1897 by Archibald Constable and Company. It cost 6 [[shilling]]s.{{sfn|Davison|1997|p=19}} Uncertainty exists around the exact date of publication, but it was probably published on 26 May 1897. Stoker wrote to [[William Gladstone]] that the novel would be released on the 26th.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=274}}{{Efn|The ''Daily News'' said it was "published to-day" in an article published May 27.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=256}}}} Paul McAlduff writes that it was published "on or about May 26".{{Sfn|McAlduff|2012|p=39}} Eighteen-Bisang states it could have been published anywhere from late May to June 1897.{{Sfn|Eighteen-Bisang|2008|p=258}}

Stoker's mother, [[Charlotte Stoker]], enthused about the novel and predicted it would bring her son immense financial success. She was wrong: the novel, although reviewed well, failed to earn Stoker much money and did not establish his critical reputation until after his death.{{Sfn|Belford|2002|p=274}} For the first thousand sales of ''Dracula'', Stoker earned no royalties.{{Sfn|Belford|2002|p=269}} Following serialisation by American newspapers, [[Doubleday & McClure]] published an American edition in 1899 with some textual changes.{{Sfn|Belford|2002|p=272}} A cheaper paperback version was published by Constable in 1901, but few copies have survived.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=268}} The text is around 15% shorter than the original but it is not known if Stoker made the amendments.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=280}} Since its publication, ''Dracula'' has never been [[out of print]].{{Sfn|Davison|1997|p=21}}

An edition of the novel edited by McNally and Florescu in 1979 was the first to include ''Dracula''<nowiki/>'s "missing chapter", "[[Dracula's Guest]]".{{Sfn|Eighteen-Bisang|2008|p=291}} Bram's widow [[Florence Balcombe|Florence Stoker]] included the chapter as a short story in ''[[Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales]]'' (1914), two years after his death.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=226}} While some commentators have described the prose as ''Dracula''{{'s}} discarded first chapter, Clive Leatherdale contests this, arguing that the material was incorporated into the published novel.{{Sfn|Miller|2005|p=234}}