Serpentine: A mineral or rock consisting of a hydrous magnesium silicate, H₄ M₃ Si₂ O₉, and having usually a dull green color, often with a spotted or mottled appearance, resembling a serpent's skin. It occurs usually in masses, which are sometimes foliated, sometimes fibrous ... Presence of iron may give it a red or brownish hue. Precious, or noble, serpentine is translucent & of a rich oil-green color. Serpentine results from the alteration of other magnesian minerals, esp. chrysolite, amphibole, & pyroxene, and is frequently found in large masses ... --Webster's, 1914; from a note preserved in the author's papers
Serpentine was first published in by Oasis Books, London, in 1985. It received little distribution and minimal notice at the time, somewhat to the author's distress, and the publisher's regret. It has never reappeared complete, although selections have appeared in subsequent compilations.
A collection of experimental prose texts--although the author forbade such a definition from appearing anywhere in the first edition, presumably in case it frightened off potential readers--Christopher Middleton described it as being a series of texts "on the nature of evil".