Bram Stoker

Famous imposters (1910) by Bram Stoker ( ILLUSTRATED )

He's best remembered as the legendary manager of London's Lyceum Theatre and author of the incalculably influential 1897 novel Dracula, but Bram Stoker was a prolific writer of numerous other works, including books of nonfiction. This curious 1910 work, one of his last, is an amusing survey of the charlatans, rogues, and other practitioners of make-believe who bedevil and delight us. With a cheerfully withering eye for their cons, Stoker introduces us to many famous fakers including: royal pretenders (such as Perkin Warbeck, who claimed King Henry VII's throne) magicians (Paracelsus, Cagliostro, etc.) witches and clairvoyants women masquerading as men hoaxers and others. Irish author ABRAHAM STOKER (1847-1912) worked for more than a quarter of a century as manager of the West End's Lyceum Theatre, which drew him