THE BEETLE: A MYSTERY. New York: Mansfield, 1898. Octavo, pp. [iii-iv] v-viii [1-2] 3-351 [352: reviews of THE BEETLE] [note: preliminaries complete despite gap in pagination], four inserted plates with illustrations by John Williamson, original pictorial maroon cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, black, and green, white endpapers with floral pattern printed in light green. First U.S. edition, first issue. The U.S. edition is made from sheets of the British edition, those of a later printing, most likely the fourth. This is an early copy of the U.S. issue with no later edition statement on the title page. The first two leaves of gathering "a" are excised (these pages being the half title and title leaves of the British edition) and the Mansfield title leaf is an insert. Page [352] of the first printing of the Skeffington edition is blank; page [352] of the Mansfield edition, headed "Opinions of the Press," quotes British reviews of THE BEETLE. Lurid, sensational novel of detection and macabre horror. "With the exception of DRACULA this was probably the most popular horror novel of the 1890s." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1111. "... considered an offbeat classic by Lovecraft and other commentators. Dorothy Scarborough calls it 'the most curdling example' of 'entomological supernaturalism.' The plot, which focuses on ancient Egypt, features a priestess of Isis who haunts the modern world in both human and beetle manifestations. In addition to terror, the novel offers humor, suspense, and memorable minor characters. Lovecraft ranks it on the same level as Stoker's DRACULA." - Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-162. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, pp. 126-27. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-141. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 151. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, p. 78. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 283. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 134. Reginald 09696. Glover and Greene 327. Hubin (1994), p. 553. Private owner's bookplate affixed to front paste-down. Cloth lightly rubbed at spine ends, corner tips and outer joints, light damp stain at upper edge of rear cover, other than that, tiny hole in the front free endpaper, a very good copy with sound binding and clean interior. A very nice copy of a book seldom found in decent shape. (#158900).
Price: $1,000.00
No statement of printing; later impressions indicate their status on the title pages.