# Is "The Beetle: A Mystery" by Richard Marsh a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Beetle: A Mystery by Richard Marsh (Skeffington & Son, 1897) is identified by: Published by Skeffington & Son, London, in 1897, with a half-title and four plates (including the frontispiece) by John Williamson.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published by Skeffington & Son, London, in 1897, with a half-title and four plates (including the frontispiece) by John Williamson
- The first edition is recorded in variant original pictorial cloth bindings - some copies in red cloth decorated in black and pale green with the publisher's device on the rear panel, others in blue cloth with the illustration stamped in orange
- It reportedly outsold Dracula, published the same year, and had reached its fifteenth impression by 1913
- Publisher imprint reads Skeffington & Son
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Richard Marsh |
| Publisher | Skeffington & Son |
| Year | 1897 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published by Skeffington & Son, London, in 1897, with a half-title and four plates (including the frontispiece) by John Williamson |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Published by Skeffington & Son, London, in 1897, with a half-title and four plates (including the frontispiece) by John Williamson. The first edition is recorded in variant original pictorial cloth bindings - some copies in red cloth decorated in black and pale green with the publisher's device on the rear panel, others in blue cloth with the illustration stamped in orange. It reportedly outsold Dracula, published the same year, and had reached its fifteenth impression by 1913.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
By the early twentieth century the novel was being reprinted by a different publisher, T. Fisher Unwin, in bindings distinct from Skeffington's original pictorial red or blue first-issue cloth; modern scholarly and facsimile reprints (Broadview, 2004; Valancourt) are unconnected to the 1897 first printing.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Beetle: A Mystery* by Richard Marsh a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-beetle-a-mystery
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.