THE GOOD SWORD BELGARDE; Or How De Burgh Held Dover

Henry Frowde/Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1909, believe 1^st UK Edition.  Hard cover, 350 pages plus 16-page publisher’s catalogue.  Boards show some edge, corner and spine end wear, board exposed at tips, short tears to cloth at spine ends; spine a bit sunned with ‘82’ marked in white at lower spine end; binding cracked with all pages secure except one detached plate laid in.  Outer page block has a dark tinting.  Interior pages unmarked with occasional smudge/age spot; only a few very short edge tears.  All colour illustrations present plus black and white map.  Also laid in is a copy of one of the illustrations in the book with a synopsis of the plot from the publisher.  Illustrated in colour by W. H. C. Groome, whose name appears on each illustration.  ‘This is the story of Arnold Gyffard and John Wotton, pages to Sir Philip Daubeney, in the days when Prince Lewis the Lion invaded England and strove to win it from King John.  It ells of their journey to Dover through a country swarming with foreign troops, and of many desperate fights by the way.  In one of these Arnold wins from a French knight the good sword Belgarde, which he uses to such good purpose as to make his name feared.’ (from publisher’s ad laid in)