They avoid daylight and emerge from their hiding places only at dusk. They are cautious, cunning and cunning; they are not reflected in mirrors, they can glide past the eyes of a mortal like a shadow and easily change their appearance - for example, turn into a bat or some other predatory animal. They experience a regular need for fresh blood, through which they prolong their unusual existence. They can be recognized by their hypertrophied fangs. They can be stopped with a crucifix or a bunch of garlic. They can be killed by driving an aspen stake into their chest. They are vampires, true mythological heroes of the New Age, permanent characters of modern literature and cinema. This anthology includes classic works about vampirism, created in the 19th - early 20th centuries by English, French, German and American writers (from George Gordon Byron to Bram Stoker) . A number of texts are published in Russian for the first time or presented in new translations. The publication is accompanied by a detailed preface and comments revealing the historical, literary, sociocultural and philosophical aspects of the vampiric theme.