He had just unleashed one of the most famed gothic horror books on the world, a blood-curdling classic that chilled readers and has inspired countless authors, film-makers and video game developers ever since.

But a rare note that Bram Stoker wrote only weeks after Dracula was published in 1897 gives a glimpse into the playful fun he must have had with the novel.

In the letter – addressed to an unidentified “Williams” – Stoker writes: “I send you Dracula & have honoured myself by writing your name in it … Lord forgive me. I am quite shameless. Yours ever, Bram Stoker.”

Oliver Bayliss, of Bayliss Rare Books in London, who sold the letter, said the note was personal, informal and revealing. Stoker was better known for his reserved and professional tone in the few letters that have survived but this one suggested an awareness of his book’s gothic extravagance and, perhaps, a playful pride in its dark theatricality. Bayliss said letters by Stoker were rare and ones in which he mentioned Dracula by name virtually unheard of.

“Less than a handful are known to exist, and those are typically formal acknowledgments. By contrast, this letter is informal, insightful, and dated just weeks after the book’s publication, making it one of the earliest and most candid authorial commentaries on the now-legendary novel.

“This letter gives us something we’ve never really had before: Stoker’s own voice, responding to Dracula around the moment it entered the world – not as an icon of horror, but as a new, uncertain work.

“Stoker’s humorous aside, ‘Lord forgive me. I am quite shameless’ has the ring of an artist knowingly pushing the boundaries of the gothic and enjoying it. It’s theatrical, cheeky, and utterly authentic. That tone simply doesn’t appear in his other known correspondence on the subject.”

Bayliss said there was what could be another word – or just a squiggle – in the “shameless” sentence: “I struggled with that but from deep review and looking even with a magnifying glass, I think it is just a squiggle, a typo. However, it could be ‘now’ which makes the quote all the more potent.”

Bayliss, who sells to institutions and private collectors, said: “Given the extraordinary rarity of this letter, it will have strong appeal to both. There’s also crossover with film and pop culture collectors, especially those with an eye on iconic 20th-century monsters.

“I could also see investor interest. Dracula is one of the most sought-after first editions in rare book collecting, and a letter signed by Stoker, directly referencing the vampire and revealing his early thoughts on the novel, is essentially one in a billion. Rarer than seeing a vampire in daylight.”

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The letter came from a seller on the west coast of the US, who had acquired it from a private collection where it had been since the 1970s. The piece was sold to an as yet unnamed buyer on Wednesday for £15,000.

Bayliss said: “It’s rather special to bring the letter back to the city where Dracula was first published – and where the letter was, in all likelihood, written while Stoker was managing the Lyceum Theatre.”

This article was amended on 16 April 2025 to add information about the inclusion of a squiggle – or the word “now” – in Bram Stoker’s sentence about being shameless.

The imagination of Bram Stoker gave life to one of literature’s most enduring terrors, Count Dracula. But the Irish-born writer’s mind was not only full of flapping cloaks, dripping fangs and creaking coffins. Stoker, it can now be confirmed, also had a strong vein, or shall we say streak, of bureaucratic efficiency running through his personality.

Researchers working for the Actors’ Benevolent Fund, the charity that supports actors and stage managers in need, have discovered that the minutes of its founding meeting, back in 1882, were taken by Stoker. It has now been confirmed that the handwriting matches documents held by the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, with images of the notes released this weekend.

Although Stoker is now established as a writer of world renown, before he published Dracula in 1897 he was employed as a personal secretary to the founder of the fund, the actor Sir Henry Irving. Moving to London, Stoker was also later to take up the role of business manager of the Lyceum theatre, a job he stayed in for 27 years.

Comparisons with the famous author’s certified manuscripts were made after the charity’s archivist, Natasha Luck, had followed up on a hunch. “I vividly recall the thrill of finding his name in records from 1882,” she told the Observer. “When I had catalogued the charity’s earliest minutes, I noted Stoker’s stint as a temporary secretary for the Actors’ Benevolent Fund in its early days and wondered … were some of these crucial minutes actually penned by him?”

Luck had mentioned her theory to a colleague working at the university collection. “With her help the mystery was solved – she photographed a sample of the minutes and compared them with confirmed examples of Bram Stoker’s handwriting in the university’s theatre archives. What a delight to be told they were indeed a match!”

Alison Wyman, chief executive of the charity, said her reaction to the finding was pure excitement. To think, she said, that the launch of the fund was witnessed by “the creator of probably one of the most iconic characters in fiction, who of course has appeared in multiple adaptations across TV, theatre and film played by so many talented actors.”

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The fund still supports professionals who fall on hard times. “We have a rich history, going back 140 years, and we always want to celebrate that while at the same time continuing the work,” Wyman said. “We hope this incredible find will shine a light on the importance of the acting community and how crucial it is to support them.”