Norton Edition of Dracula

Jill · 29th September 2001, 04:27 PM

Dear Mr. Lee:

About 3 years ago, a friend of mind was given a copy of a Norton critical edition of Dracula, published by W.W. Norton & Company of NY and London in 1997. I was thrilled to see that it had what I thought was a front cover of your picture in illustration, beuatifully rendered in red foil overlay. However, upon closer examination of this large paperback edition, I discovered that the cover illustration is not of you, but of a portrait of Henry Irving as Mephistopheles in Faust, the original of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I was pretty shocked, because if that is a picture of another actor, then you two could be twin brothers. Are you aware of this book, or of the resemblance? Have you ever been compared to this Victorian actor?
I have been a fan of yours for many years, and I can hardly wait to see your portrayal of Saruman, in particular!

Sincerely,
Dr. Jill Clark:D

29th September 2001, 05:43 PM

Hi, Jill

That sounds fascinating. Could you possibly scan your friend's book cover so we can see what you mean?

Thanks either way,

Jill · 29th September 2001, 06:41 PM

Hi Rebecca:

*Sigh*
I wish I could scan this cover for you, but unfortunately, I don't have access to a scanner. I have one in Ft. Worth on my other computer, but I didn't bring it to the wilds of Tuscaloosa. You'd think I'd get access to one at the University, but their equipment is pretty antiquated compared to most universities. (Even their copy machine has been broken for 3 weeks). I'll see if I can find one, but I ain't makin' any promises. I'm telling you, though, if it's not Christopher Lee, it's him in a previous life or something. The resemblance is uncanny! I just assumed it was him based on the picture, and there it sat on my shelf for 4 years; I just never got around to looking at it until recently. Also, that museum is in London, so those of you who live there might drop by the Victoria and Albert Museum to check it the original portrait of Henry Irving. I'm sure Christina will want to!:D

**Charles Prepolec** · 29th September 2001, 07:08 PM

While I appreciate the topic, I would ask that members Please do not post direct questions to Mr. Lee in Forums other than in the one specifically designated for doing so. They will not be answered.

If you are currently unable to post in the Questions to Christopher Lee Forum, I would ask that you save your queries for a time when you are able to do so. Alternately, please feel free to discuss whatever topics or queries you choose in the appropriate Forum, or Thread, with other members. "Does anyone know..." is a good method of starting an interesting and possibly informative discussion. In many cases other members will have some insight on a particular topic, plus you have the added benefit of creating solid and interesting threads in the process. If after all that, you still feel the need to ask Mr. Lee for his opinion on the subject, you may in fact be in a position to post it to the Questions Forum.

Please understand that further direct questions to Mr. Lee, that are posted to inappropriate Forums, will be deleted by moderators and cannot be passed to the boards. Mr. Lee is more than happy to answer the allotted 15 questions per month, as he enjoys interacting with his fans, but do respect his time limitations and post accordingly.

My thanks to all members in respecting Mr. Lee's position.

Jill · 29th September 2001, 07:14 PM

Charles, I tried to start a new thread in the questions forum and it wouldn't take me to the post. Any way you could transfer this question from this forum to that one? Sorry, didn't mean to create havoc, but I'm not really familiar with how this is set up. Thanks for informing me, however, and in the future, I will not start a thread with a direct question.

**Charles Prepolec** · 29th September 2001, 08:13 PM

Jill,
Not havoc by any stretch of the imagination, so no worries. As a matter of fact, I welcome the opportunity to, hopefully, clarify the matter.

Direct questions are certainly suitable in the Questions to Christopher Lee forum. The reason you could not post there, at this time, should be clear if you will check the Questions to Mr. Lee Forum Reopens topic currently on display in the News, at the site's front/entry page, or in the News and Articles Forum.

Everyone that contributes to enriching the Forums, and the community in general, will have an opportunity, in the fullness of time and upon reaching the required number of general posts, to ask Mr. Lee their questions. With the recent and rapid growth of site membership, a filter was implemented to give access to the Questions to Christopher Lee Forum in some sort of orderly, mechanical and fair manner. It is understood that everyone wants to interact directly with Mr. Lee, and for that I can't blame anyone, he is a fascinating individual with knowledge on an amazingly wide variety of topics, but it should be clear that members who have been here for some time and contributed to the community as a whole, should have priority access to his limited time rather than being lost under the influx of casual visitors and questions. I would hope that as the number of members able to post to the Questions Forum increases, members that have already had questions answered, or other opportunities to interact with Mr. Lee, might hold off from posting new ones as a courtesy to our newer members. This is not a closed community but a rapidly expanding one, so lets all be fair when it comes to Mr. Lee's time and to our newer members. Once again, current access to the Questions Forum is not intended as a slight to new members, it is merely an effort to be fair to as many people as possible while making every effort to respect Mr. Lee's time.

I encourage everyone to stick around, have fun, chat with other members, post in various discussion threads, contribute reviews, etc...and in a relatively short time you'll have access to the Questions to Christopher Lee Forum.

I hope that clears up any confusion.

Should you, or anyone else for that matter, need further clarification about the system for posting questions to Mr. Lee, please do not post to the board about it or contact the webmaster, as I feel this has been fairly well explained. Instead, feel free to contact me, or any other of our hard working moderators, directly via the site's messenger system, or email me at charles@christopherleeweb.com

Cheers and thanks for putting up with my longwinded...extremely longwinded...explanation!

**Charles Prepolec** · 30th September 2001, 06:25 AM

Jill,
I think I may have the found the image of Henry Irving that you mentioned as looking rather like Mr. Lee. Yes, yes, I know...I have too much free time on my hands. If you'd care to click here you can view a cropped and fuzzy version of it. Please let me know if this is the one that you had in mind.
Cheers,

Jill · 30th September 2001, 03:15 PM

Bless you, Charles, that's the one!

Downright spooky, isn't it?:1devil:

Jill · 30th September 2001, 03:29 PM

Charles, did you find the image on Amazon.com? When Rebecca asked me to scan it, I didn't even think that it might be somewhere on the web already...duh. I found it at Amazon.com, for anybody who's interested in buying it, or just looking at the full cover. You're right: it's a bit fuzzy on the web, but then it's a rendering from a portrait, so it certainly would be fuzzier on the web. I promise, however, that it's much clearer when you actually see it up close.
Anyway, thanks again for pulling that image up so people can see it.