Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait vintage 1950s and the aces in each

and the aces in each suit

The outlined lettering

This little lion is definitely owning the space in which she lounges

and Paul Kruger (President of the South African Republic-or Transvaal

not knowing exactly what it was

Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait vintage 1950s and the aces in eachI rarely meet a book shaped thing I don't like, and this feels like something of an example of not judging a book by its cover! I'm thinking there may once have been a picture of some sort adhered to the outside cover, which shows a bare spot surrounded by red paint now and perhaps that picture functioned as a sort of counterpart to the portrait print of woman in large plumed hat inside; my guess is that it turned this book box into a c. 1800 French