Bram Stoker most famous novel. Stoker enjoyed the United States, where Irving was popular. With Irving he was invited twice to the White House, and knew William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Stoker set two of his novels there, using Americans as characters, the most notable being Quincey Morris. He also met one of his literary idols, Walt Whitman. Stoker visited the English coastal town of Whitby in 1890, and that visit was said to be part of the inspiration for "Dracula". He began writing novels while working as manager for Henry Irving and secretary and director of London's Lyceum Theatre, beginning with
Folio Society Over the years, The Folio Society has commissioned original introductions to its editions from leading figures in literature, the arts, media, science, philosophy and the academic world. These include the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams ("Confessions of St Augustine" and Eusebius "The History of the Church"); Ruth Rendell (P. D. James "Cover Her Face"); A. S. Byatt (Andrew Lang "The Pink Fairy Book"); Jenny Uglow (Liza Picard "Restoration London"); Simon Mawer (Leo Marks "Between Silk and Cyanide"); Will Self (Franz Kafka "Metamorphosis and Other Stories"); John Banville (Bram Stoker "Dracula"); Michael Cunningham (Virginia Woolf "Mrs Dalloway"); Damon Galgut