First British Edition · Detective Fiction · Decorative Serpent Binding
My Strangest Case — Guy Boothby, 1902 First British Edition in Serpent-Decorated Cloth
Guy Boothby · Illustrated by Harold Piffard · London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1902
Catalogue details
Description
An attractive first British edition of Boothby’s adventure and detective novel, preserved in its distinctive original blue publisher’s cloth with a coiled serpent in green and gilt. Harold Piffard is credited for the internal illustrations; the artist of the binding design has not been established.
- Dimensions
- Measurements gladly provided on request
- Author
- Guy Newell Boothby (1867–1905)
- Edition
- First British edition, 1902; first issued in America in 1901
- Publisher
- Ward, Lock & Co., Limited; London, New York and Melbourne
- Illustrator
- Harold Piffard (interior illustrations); cover designer unidentified
- Binding
- Original blue publisher’s pictorial cloth, stamped in green and gilt
- Early marks
- Contemporary ownership inscription and bookseller’s blindstamp, W. H. Smith & Son, London
- Completeness
- Not physically collated
- Condition
- Please consult the photographs for condition. Additional photographs are available on request.
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Historical context & sources
The novel and its setting
An international detective adventure beginning in Singapore, in which stolen valuables, suspicion and pursuit lead the reader through far-flung locations. Boothby (1867–1905), an Australian-born writer, was a prominent popular novelist of the late Victorian and Edwardian period, notably associated with the Dr Nikola novels.
Who designed the serpent binding?
The striking coiled serpent dominates the front board and is central to the book’s visual interest. The title page credits Harold Piffard for the illustrations within the book, but there is no confirmed attribution of the binding design to Piffard. Its designer should remain unidentified pending documentary evidence.
