Stoker, Wells, and Poe Feature at Potter & Potter Auctions
Sponsored by Potter & Potter
Horror, mystery, and science fiction high spots lead the way at the November 2026 Potter & Potter sale Autumn Chills: Fine Horror and Mystery Literature. Auction highlights include a first edition, first printing of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a first edition of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, and the first appearance of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
“Arguably one of the most famous novels in the English language, Dracula has had far-reaching influence on world culture which is felt even today, over a century after its publication,” said Chad Reingold, Director of the Rare Books Department at Potter & Potter Auctions. The copy on offer is a first edition, first printing of the horror classic, printed in Westminster by Archibald Constable and Company in 1897. Presented in the publisher’s full canary yellow cloth, with boards and spine ruled and lettered in red, this copy of Dracula is one of an approximate 3,000 copies of the first printing. The book is estimated at $30,000-$50,000.
The first edition of H. G. Wells’ science fiction staple, The War of the Worlds, was printed in London by William Heinemann in 1898. The copy on offer at Potter & Potter is presented in the publisher’s full gray cloth, with boards and spine tamped in black, and contains the first issue of advertisements, sixteen pages, dated to 1897.
“This science fiction classic is one of the earliest novels to deal with conflict between the human race and extraterrestrials and is the basis of numerous film and television adaptations,” said Reingold about the lingering cultural influence of the story detailing a hostile alien invasion of Earth. Potter & Potter’s copy of The War of the Worlds is expected to go for $2,000-$4,000.
An annual volume of Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine containing the first appearance of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is also on offer at the November sale. In 1841, the editor of the magazine was none other than Poe himself, who, accordingly, published several of his own pieces within its pages. All twelve issues from January to December 1841 are included in the annual volume, with the first appearance of several of Poe’s stories, such as “The Island of the Fay,” “A Descent Into the Maelstrom,” and, crucially for the development of detective fiction, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
Reingold said the story “introduced the prototypical literary detective, C. Auguste Dupin, and changed the course of world literature.” Reingold added that the story is “widely credited as inventing the modern mystery/detective genre. At the time of its writing, the word detective did not even exist.”
The 1841 annual volume of Graham’s Magazine is expected to fetch $2,000-$4,000.
Potter & Potter’s specialized November auction is its first ever dedicated Horror and Mystery sale. Other highlights include other rare titles by Bram Stoker, Frank Belknap Long, Lord Dunsany, David Gemmell, W. W. Jacobs, Sheridan Le Fanu, August Derleth, Arthur Machen, Karl Edward Wagner, and H. P. Lovecraft. The mystery titles include rarities and unusual items by Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, and Raymond Chandler.
