Leatherdale, Clive

Leatherdale, Clive (1949–)

Clive Leatherdale, an English writer and publisher, first read Dracula (1897) in his teens and has returned to it many times since. His professional interest in the novel began in 1982 when, having completed a Ph.D. in Arabian history, he felt free at last to grapple with Dracula’s hidden meanings. Dracula: The Novel and the Legend (1985) was the result, a work that explored the novel’s sexual, Freudian, biblical, occult, and political aspects. This book has never been out of print and has been translated into Italian and French editions. Various other works on Dracula and Bram Stoker followed, culminating in 1998 with Dracula Unearthed, an edition of the novel that contains 3,500 textual notes and annotations. Leatherdale is also the owner/publisher of Desert Island Books and several books authored by him have been published as part of his company’s Desert Island Dracula Library. Leatherdale announced plans to do a book that tackled what he considers to be popular misconceptions regarding Dracula, but Dracula Unearthed has turned out to be his last book on the subject. His colleague Elizabeth Miller, with whom he has kept a close working relationship, did complete a book length volume of common errors concerning Dracula. Meanwhile, Leatherdale has pursued his additional wide interests. He has backpacked around much of the world, has lived in Saudi Arabia, China, and Korea, and written histories or travel books on all three countries. He has also written a work on education and numerous books on sports.

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