The Mystery of the Sea

Pages 457-98 identically in the 1902 editions contain "Appendix"/"Appendices" (US/UK), or Appendix A to Appendix E. • Appendix A to D, pp. 457-75 These feature secret writing, Francis Bacon's "Bi-Literal Cipher" and some derived ciphers. Presumably these support the role in the story of two encoded messages that are displayed on one unnumbered leaf following the Contents list. • Appendix E, pp. 476-98 "Narrative of Bernardino de Escoban, Knight of the Cross of the Holy See and Grandee of Spain"

Several reviews mention the cipher. The earliest found (Louisville Courier-Journal 1902-03-29 p5) is the most emphatic, as it notes, "The clever[est?] ... of the book is the adaptation of the Baconian cipher in furthering the plot and the romance."

• 1st ed.
• Announced for the end of the month, NY Times 1902-03-01 pBR12 "Notes and News".
• Price from publisher advertisement, NY Times -03-22 pBR9.
• HathiTrust Digital Library (catalog record 008667846 and 100104611) provides full view of two copies without original cover. The latter interior is different only, probably, because images of front pages are assembled in the wrong sequence. -- copyright page: (c)1902 by Stoker; "Published March, 1902" -- Contents, p.vii-viii, lists Chapters I to LIII only -- pp. [1] and [2], untitled, each display one encoded message -- novel spans p3-454 -- Appendix, p[455]-98 comprises Appendix A to Appendix E (see the novel record)
• Library of Congress (LCCN, below) reports viii+454 pages but the Appendix pages from 457 are numbered.