Bibliographic check-list of the works of James Branch Cabell THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES By MERLE JOHNSON A Bibliographic C heck- List of the IVorks of James Branch Cabell ig2i FRANK SHAY Publisher A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST OF THE WORKS OF JAMES BRANCH CABELL p\ THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST OF THE WORKS OF JAMES BRANCH CABELL is limited to 250 copies of which 200 are for sale. No._Uriir_.__ Uniform with this booklet. The Bibliography of Walt Whitman. By Frank Shay. Limited to 450 numbered copies. A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST OF THE WORKS OF JAMES BRANCH CABELL 1904-1921 By Merle Johnson New York FRANK SHAY 1921 z AN EPISTOLARY PREFACE By James Branch Cabell April 23, 1921. Dear Mr. In re the queston you ask about the "connecting theme" of my books, the most obvious connection is, of course, the fact that they constitute a largish family tree. This genealogy I began to trace out as far back as 1902, when I wrote the first of the stories afterward bound up together in The Line of Love. And the general "method" followed in that volume — of depicting a decisive passage in the lives of two persons, then a simi- lar untying of knots in the life of a child of that couple, and yet afterward in one of the grandchildren's life-history, — has been extended, but never altered in my other volumes. The most plain connec- tion of my various books is, thus, almost precisely the same connection that exists among the several stories in The Line of Love, Now I have completed the "definitive" versions (to appear in the autumn of 448000 AN EPISTOLARY PREFACE 1921) of Chivalry and The Line of Love by the addition of considerable matter, which, for one reason or another, was omitted from the first editions. And all traces pretty clearly now from Dom Manuel, and the descendants whom he and Alianora left in England, and other descendants whom he and Niafer left in Poictesme, and from the ten images that he and Freydis informed with fire from Audela, and set to live as men among mankind. But in a deeper sense, I like to think, the coherency of these books is not merely genealogic . . . Beyond Life now stands as a sort of preface to embody the vital and aesthetic theories thereafter builded on. Forthwith you have Manuel, and later Jurgen, posed as the ancestors and life-sources of all my leading char- acters. It is the life of Manuel, and the life of Jurgen, as this life is perpetuated in their descendants, that I continue to tell about. The vital principle of each of these extreme "types" is presently blended with the other, in the person and in the progeny of Melite de Puysange; JAMES BRANCH CABELL and the compound is — I needn't say, — very variously affected and guided and foiled by the milieu in which it there- after happens to find itself. But it is, actually, with Manuel's life and with Jurgen's life, as each life is transmitted through many generations down to the present survival of this life in Lichfield (and with in most cases each of its re- newals prefaced by an edifyingly proper matrimonial prologue) that my books are concerned always . . . Manuel, let me say here, I planned to be the type which finds its sole, if in- complete, expression in action: I have, in consequence, carefully refrained from ascribing to Dom Manuel any thoughts whatever. And Jurgen was designed to illustrate Dom Manuel's utmost contrary, in that Jurgen derives his real, his deep- est, his one unfailing pleasure from the exercise of his — pace Mr. Sumner — intelligence. To Jurgen, the progenitor of all the poets and all the inadequate, unpractical persons in my books, the most interesting thing in the world — in fact, the one wholly worth while thing — AN EPISTOLARY PREFACE is to watch his own brain working, espe- cially when this fine curious toy is set to outmatch the workings of some other brain. Inevitably, therefore, Jurgen has become a synonym for bodily excess . . Between these two extremes range the inherited traits of their descendants, who display, not unnaturally, an occasional marked family resemblance. And the "connecting theme" of the books, viewed in this light, would seem to be the lean and dusty axiom that human beings and human living are pretty much the same in all times and stations, and come by varying roads, as did Jurgen the pawn- broker and Manuel the high Count, to pretty much the same end . . . Yet, underlying all, of course, is the profounder "connecting theme" that Hor- vendile is the erratic demiurge who com- poses and controls the entire business ex- tempore, without any prompter except his own whims : but that is really a mat- ter almost too complex here to explain. Rather does discretion urge me to refer you to Saevius Nicanor's fine chapters on this very interesting theory . . . For it 10 JAMES BRANCH CABELL all comes back to theory, and to the cool- ing reflection that it is the nature of every explanatory theory to be evolved after the phenomena it accounts for — even, I suspect, when it is one's own theory about one's own books. James Branch Cabell Dumbarton Grange, Dumbarton, Virginia, IJ INTRODUCTION THIS bibliographic check list of first editions to date of James Branch Cabell needs no excuse except the large and increasingly number of collectors of those first editions. ^^'Tiile collectors form only a small part of the reading public, their activities have a definite bearing on an author's fame and so their convenience is here sensed. The com- piler of this list aids their purposes not so much as an admirer of collecting as an admirer of Mr. Cabell. Mr. Hugh Walpole in his Yale Review article, "The Art of James Branch Cabell" describes the Cabell books as a "succession of instalments in one long history." In speaking of the recurrent figures through the series of books as linked manifestations of "that travelling soul who remains, from first to last, his unfaltering subject," Mr. Walpole finds his proofs of intentional links in follow- 13 INTRODUCTION ing the chronological order, as in the con- ventional style of the ordinary check list. Mr. Cabell's publishers, in reprinting the Yale Review article, append a list in what they please to call "geneological sequence," later referring to the list as "Biography" of the fictional character as opposed to the three "Genealogy" books of the actual Major and Branch families. This list of course has been seen and ap- proved by Mr. Cabell, if not actually out- lined by him, and is as follows: Beyond Life, Figures of Earth, Domnei, Chiv- alry, Jurgen, Taboo, The Line of Love, Gallantry, The Certain Hour, The Cords of Vanity, From the Hidden Way, The Rivet in Grandfather s Neck, The Eagle's Shadow, The Cream of the Jest. Whether this linking together of lit- erary output was designed from the be- ginning of Mr. Cabell's activity, or was a growth natural to following a certain method of work, only the author himself can tell. He is pleased to call most of his books comedies — of purse strings, of shirking, of woman worship, of limita- tions, of evasions, of justice, and of ap- 14 JAMES BRANCH CABELL pearances. From these comedies he leaps lightly now and then into a "dizain" — coming in sets of ten, as one's fingers and toes, dizains of wedlocks, of genteel en- tertainment, of royal women, of poets, of creative intelligencies. He calls your at- tention to human foibles with a smile and a shrug of the shoulder, rather than the loud denounce and the pointed finger. The method of this check list is to give the general description of the books so that they can be visualized, together with whatever technical information is neces- sary to define to a certainty the first print- ing or binding. The list is so short that all books are put chronologically, without trying to separate from it those of less importance, or of which Mr. Cabell is author only in part. If the material has previously appeared in magazine or newspaper, we indicate that, in a general way, leaving to a future bibliographer the exact dates and extended descriptions. M.J. 15 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST OF THE WORKS OF JAMES BRANCH C\BELL 1904 V The Eagle's Shadow 12 mo, red cloth, gilt lettering, gilt and white seal on front cover and backbone, pictorial end-papers. New York : Double- day Page & Company, 1904. Title and preliminary pages are printed in green. Frontispiece and seven illustrations by Will Grefe; decorations by Blanche Os- tertag. 256 pages. In the first state the dedication is to "M.L.P.B." Novel. A note on the copyright pages says "an abridged version of this story appeared serially in the Saturday Evening Post during the summer of 1904. The novel is here given as originally conceived by the author." 17 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST '^ 1905 The Line of Love 8 vo, light green cloth, gilt, white orna- mentation and colored paster on front cover. Gilt top, otherwise untrimmed; decorated end-papers. New York: Har- per & Brothers, 1905. Frontispiece and nine illustrations in color by Howard Pyle. Collection of seven related short stories (originally appearing in Harper's Magazine) with Epistle Dedication and Envoi. 291 pages. Second bindings omit most of the elaborate ornamenta- tion. 1907 Gallantry 8 vo, silver grey cloth, gilt, silver and white ornamentation. Gilt top, otherwise untrimmed; pictorial end-papers. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1907. Fron- tispiece and three illustrations (tipped in) in color by Howard Pyle. Collec- tion of eleven short stories, credited to various magazines in a foreword, with 18 JAMES BRANCH CABELL Epistle Dedicatory, Prologue and Epi- logue. 334 pages. Second bindings omit the elaborate ornamentation. 1907 Branchiana 8 vo, green or red cloth, gilt lettering, gilt top, otherwise untrimmed. Rich- mond, Virginia: Whittet and Shepper- son, 1907. Frontispiece and nine por- trait inserts. 177 pages and one page of Errata. 147 this edition, signed. Later bindings of 30 copies are in buff, with frontispiece only. 1909 The Cords of Vanity 12 mo, red cloth, white lettering. New York: Doubleday Page & Company, 1909. Frontispiece in color. 341 pages. Novel. In its subsequent revised state it is called "A Comedy of Shirking." The first binding has "Cords of Vanity" in box on front cover, and "The" is also omitted from title on back of the book. 19 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST 1909 1^ Chivalry 8 vo, red cloth, gilt, white and green ornamentation. Gilt top, otherwise un- trimmed, colored end-papers. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1909. Frontispiece and nine illustrations in color by Howard Pyle. Collection of ten short stories, originally appearing in Harper's Maga- zine (with the exception of No. 7 of the "Dizain of Queens" series), with Pre- cautional. Prologue and Epilogue. 224 pages. Second bindings omit the elab- orate ornamentation. 1911 Branch of Abingdon 8 vo, green cloth, gilt top, otherwise un- trimmed. Richmond, Virginia: Wm. Ellis Jones Sons, Inc., 1911. Frontis- piece of document facsimile, and nine inserts of places connected with the Branch family. 126 pages. 100 copies. The Kingsland edition was limited to 15 20 JAMES BRANCH CABELL copies, of which only ten were actually made — signed and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15 — on Japan vellum paper, title-page in two colors, and bound in red Morocco. In copies 11, 12, 14, 15, the seventh line of page 114 was re- set correctly, "Mercia" being substituted for "Chester," so that these four copies differ from all other copies. At the same time were printed 100 signed and num- bered copies, and 100 unnumbered and unsigned copies, in green buckram. 1913 The Soul of Melicent Small 8 vo, dark blue cloth (later bind- ings in black), gilt, pictorial paster on front cover. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1913. Frontispiece and three illustrations in color by How- ard Pyle. Novel. 216 pages. In its revised state as "Domnei," it is called "A Comedy of Woman-Worship." 21 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST 1915 The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1915. 368 pages. Novel: "A Comedy of Lim- itations." 1915 The Majors and Their Marriages 8 vo, green cloth, gilt lettering, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. Richmond, Virginia: The W. C. Hill Printing Com- pany, 1915. 183 pages. Burlington edition, so described, has 100 copies signed. The Roxbury edition is in paper, blue-gray or buff, 200 unnumbered and unsigned. 1916 From the Hidden Way 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt, top trimmed, othenvise uncut. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1916. 187 pages. The title page states it to be "seventy- 22 JAMES BRANCH CABELL five adaptations in verse." The first binding has : From the / Hidden / Way (ornament) James / Branch / Cabell on the front cover, has trimmed edges and is ^ of an inch less in height than later issues. Second binding has underlined "c" in "McBride" on backbone. 1916 The Certain Hour 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt, dark brown plate behind title on front cover. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1916. 253 pages. Collection of ten short stories, as the sub-title (Dizain des Poetes) would indicate, reprinted from 1917 The Cream of the Jest 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt lettering, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1917. 280 pages. Novel: "A Comedy of Evasions." 23 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST 1919 Beyond Life 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt lettering, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1919. Essays: "Dizain des Demiurges." (Crea- tive Intellects) Some few of the earliest issues were bound in a very dark cloth, "Italian chocolate" — so dark as to be almost black. 1919 JURGEN 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt lettering, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1919. 368 pages. Novel: "A Comedy of Jus- tice." The "suppressed" book. First issue measures 1% inches across the top of sheets. Second edition on thicker paper measures about ^ inch more. Third edition states the fact on the copy- right page. 24 JAMES BRANCH CABELL 1920 DOMNEI 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. New York : Robert M. McBride & Company, 1920. 218 pages. This is announced by the publisher as a revised edition of "Melicent," (1913) q. V. 1920 The Cords of Vanity 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. New York: Robert M. McBride and Company, 1920. 330 pages. Novel: "A Comedy of Shirk- ing." Revised edition of book pub- lished in 1909. 1920 Prize Stories, 1919 0. Henry Memorial Award 8 vo, blue-black cloth, gilt lettering. Garden City: Doubleday Page & Com- pany, 1920. 298 pages. Contains "Por- 25 448000 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST celain Cups" by James Branch Cabell, pp. 210-217, reprinted from the Century- Magazine. 1920 The Best Short Stories of 1919 Edited by Edward J. O'Brien 8 vo, blue-black cloth, gilt lettering. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1920. 414 pages. Contains "The Wed- ding Jest" by James Branch Cabell, pp. 108-122, reprinted from the Century Magazine. 1920 The Judging of Jurgen 12 mo; pamphlet, green, blue, brown or buif paper covers, cord binding, paper label. Chicago: The Bookfellows, 1920. 14 pages. Reprinted with slight re- visions from the New York Tribune, The large paper edition of 6 copies is about 9 by 11 inches, bound in brown boards, brown cloth back, paper label. 26 JAMES BRANCH CABELL / 1920 JURGEN AND THE CeNSOR Thin 8 vo, light brown cloth back and comers, gilt top, otherwise untrimmed Paper label on back. New York, 1920 Report of the emergency committee or ganized to protest against the suppres sion of James Branch Cabell's "Jurgen.' Contains preface, pp. 7-9, and pp. 63-64, "The Judging of Jurgen" by Cabell. 77 pages. 433 copies, 9^ by 6^/8, and fifty copies, numbers 1 to 50, which are 9^ by 7^, and are signed by Cabell, as is stated upon the paper label. 1920 JOHAN BOJER By Carl Gad 12 mo, blue-black cloth, red lettering. New York: Moffat Yard & Company, 1920. 260 pages. Contains "Critique on the Face of the World" by James Branch Cabell, pp. 247-255. 27 A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK-LIST 1921 Figures of Earth 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt, top trimmed, otherwise uncut. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1921. 356 pages. Novel: "A Comedy of Appear- ances." On page 71, the word "multus" in the twelfth line is changed to "mundus" in the second edition. Of the first edition twenty-five copies were is- sued altogether untrimmed, and signed by the author. 1921 Taboo Thin 12 mo, brown cloth, gilt lettering. New York: Robert M. McBride, 1921. 40 pages. Skit in the "Jurgen" vein, originally appeared in the New York Evening Post, here revised and extended with headings, subheadings, dedications, etc. This edition limited to 920 copies, 100 signed by the author. There is a previously printed four page leaflet, said to have been put out in Chicago, about 20 or 30 copies, the size and style of "Jurgen and the Censor," a straight re- print of the Evening Post article. / A t /T) fiNIVERSITY of CALIF&KWIA AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY U^y^ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-2m-6,'49(B4568)444 Johnson 8139.7 J 63b Bibliographic check-list of the works of James Branch Cabell Z 8139.7 J63b