The cover page is adapted from Beetle, a painting completed circa 1700 by Jan Augustin van der Goes. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
The Beetle
Chapitres (52)
- Book I: The House with the Open Window 0:00
- I: Outside 0:08
- II: Inside 13:45
- III: The Man in the Bed 30:52
- IV: A Lonely Vigil 42:33
- V: An Instruction to Commit Burglary 56:30
- VI: A Singular Felony 1:19:56
- VII: The Great Paul Lessingham 1:38:32
- VIII: The Man in the Street 1:57:54
- IX: The Contents of the Packet 2:02:25
- Book II: The Haunted Man 2:14:11
- X: Rejected 2:14:19
- XI: A Midnight Episode 2:27:12
- XII: A Morning Visitor 2:41:29
- XIII: The Picture 2:53:14
- XIV: The Duchess’ Ball 3:20:29
- XV: Mr. Lessingham Speaks 3:39:44
- XVI: Atherton’s Magic Vapour 3:55:28
- XVII: Magic?—Or Miracle? 4:14:02
- XVIII: The Apotheosis of the Beetle 4:19:12
- XIX: The Lady Rages 4:56:06
- XX: A Heavy Father 5:07:15
- XXI: The Terror in the Night 5:19:14
- XXII: The Haunted Man 5:49:19
- Book III: The Terror by Night and the Terror by Day 6:19:00
- XXIII: The Way He Told Her 6:19:11
- XXIV: A Woman’s View 6:31:24
- XXV: The Man in the Street 6:39:25
- XXVI: A Father’s No 6:48:59
- XXVII: The Terror by Night 6:57:18
- XXVIII: The Strange Story of the Man in the Street 7:12:58
- XXIX: The House on the Road from the Workhouse 7:37:15
- XXX: The Singular Behaviour of Mr. Holt 8:04:02
- XXXI: The Terror by Day 8:09:08
- Book IV: In Pursuit 8:19:14
- XXXII: A New Client 8:19:26
- XXXIII: What Came of Looking Through a Lattice 8:25:21
- XXXIV: After Twenty Years 8:49:46
- XXXV: A Bringer of Tidings 9:08:13
- XXXVI: What the Tidings Were 9:13:55
- XXXVII: What Was Hidden Under the Floor 9:24:49
- XXXVIII: The Rest of the Find 9:38:56
- XXXIX: Miss Louisa Coleman 9:48:59
- XL: What Miss Coleman Saw Through the Window 10:11:27
- XLI: The Constable—His Clue—and the Cab 10:24:00
- XLII: The Quarry Doubles 10:40:37
- XLIII: The Murder at Mrs. ’Enderson’s 10:52:22
- XLIV: The Man Who Was Murdered 11:17:33
- XLV: All That Mrs. ’Enderson Knew 11:32:32
- XLVI: The Sudden Stopping 11:40:35
- XLVII: The Contents of the Third-Class Carriage 11:57:10
- XLVIII: The Conclusion of the Matter 12:03:07
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The Beetle was published in 1897, the same year as Dracula—and outsold it six to one that year. Like Dracula, the novel is steeped in the evil mysteries of an ancient horror: in this case, a mysterious ancient Egyptian creature bent on revenge.
The story is told through the sequential points of view of a group of middle-class Victorians who find themselves enmeshed in the creature’s plot. The creature, in the guise of an Egyptian man, appears in London seeking revenge against a popular member of Parliament. They soon find out that it can shape shift into other things, including women; that it can control minds and use hypnosis; and that it won’t stop at anything to get the revenge it seeks. The heroes are soon caught in a whirlwind of chase scenes, underground laboratories, secret cults, and more as they race to foil the creature.
While The Beetle didn’t earn the lasting popularity of Stoker’s counterpart, it remains a strange and unique morsel of Victorian sensationalist fiction.