Dracula by Bram Stoker was published in 1897, 7 years after he started writing it and a little over 15 years after the publication of Dorian Gray. The first edition had a yellow cover with bold red lettering, supposedly it was a deliberate nod to the disreputable french novels with the same colored covers. Notable, the book Dorian is "poisoned" by in Dorian Gray is one of those disreputable French novels. The book takes on the legends and folklore around vampires and is the basis of most modern vampire literature and film. It takes the format of a series of diary entries and letters written by a few different characters.