A royal prisoner

Very Good. See scans and description. New York: Brentano’s, 1918. First American Edition. 12mo, 277 pp. Maroon cloth, lettered in gilt. Part of the Fantômas Detective Novels series, French pulp fiction in which, in early 20th century France, a series of audacious crimes are committed by an unknown criminal called Fantomas, who seems to be able to change shape and place supernaturally, speaks in cliches, and is the object of more than a little erotic interest to women – in particular Lady Beltham, who is magnetically attracted to him, yet aghast at his crimes, throughout the series. Inspector Juve (who may be Fantomas’ brother) searches for him obsessively. Souvestre & Allain’s Fantomas series included no less than 32 collaborative, all originally written in French between 1911 and 1913, then a subsequent eleven volumes written by Allain alone after Souvestre’s death in 1914. Dominated by this essence of an archetypal villain rather in opposition to the archteypal super-detective Sherlock Holmes, the mystique of the series was immensely popular among contemporary French surrealists. A Royal Prisoner [original French title: Un Roi Prisonnier de Fantômas] is one of the scarcest titles in the Brentano’s first American editions.