The Coil of the Serpent, Or Nora Gray's Reclamation (A Temperance Tale)

Not dated but c 1900 (handwritten date of 1906 on front endpaper). Pictorially blocked cloth boards (worn at edges and joints, rubbed at corners and spine ends, a little faded), with decorations on front and spine, gilt titles and finishes. 160pp plus publisher's illustrated catalogue bound in at rear. Monochrome plate frontispiece, numerous decorations and line drawings in text. Light tanning to endpapers and occasional scattered foxing. Signed on the endpaper by F A Keyworth, likely a relative of the author? and possible presentation copy. Nice copy. Before the advent of dust jackets, many books, especially those for children were bound in brightly coloured cloth with pictorial blocking in gold and colours, often on the spine as well as the front board. This volume is one of those, mostly closed associated with the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, into the 1920s.