MARSH, Richard (pseudonym of HELDMANN, Richard Bernard, 1857-1915). The Beetle. London: Skeffington and Son, 1897. 8vo. 351 pp. Frontispiece and 3 plates after John Williamson. Publisher's illustrated red cloth stamped in black and green and lettered in gilt. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF MARSH'S LURID MASTERPIECE, WHICH ORIGINALLY OUTSOLD DRACULA. 

Marsh's novel, about a vengeful shape-shifting Egyptian entity who seeks revenge on a London politician, has drawn numerous comparisons to Bram Stoker's Dracula, both published the same year and employing similar mulitple-narrator structures. The story was initially serialized in Answers under the title "The Peril of Paul Lessingham: The Story of a Haunted Man" and changed to The Beetle upon publication from Skeffington and Sons, which sold 6 times as many copies as Stoker's Dracula. Recently, the novel has received renewed scholarly interest as a quintessential example of fin de siècle Gothic fiction. Housed in clamshell box. 

Boards rubbed, edge worn, spine sunned, margins fraying. Ownership inscription to front pastedown, ffep toned, light spotting, small hole to bottom of frontispiece, hinge starting. Very good, an excellent copy better than usually seen.