James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
THE CREAM OF THE JEST: A Comedy of Evasions
Hall Code |
Description |
CoJ-B2a (E) |
Second English Printing, Binding Variant 1923 |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto: THE CREAM OF | THE JEST [two devices] | A COMEDY OF EVASIONS | BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL | With an Introduction by Harold Ward | [in italic] " Le pays où je voulais aller, tu m'y as mené | en songe, celte nuit, et tu étais belle . . . | ah! que tu étais belle! . . . Mais, comme | je n'ai aimé que ton ombre, tu me dispen- | seras, chère tête, de remercier ta réalité." | JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LIMITED | LONDON. VIGO STREET, W. (see image above).
Title page verso: FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1923 | REPRINTED 1923 | MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN | BY THE DEVONSHIRE PRESS, TORQUAY (see image above).
Note: On the copy shown here, the verso of the title page is rubber stamped "COLONIAL EDITION." We have seen copies both with and without this stamp.
Publication:
London: John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd., 1923
Collation:
Crown octavo [18.9 cm. (7 7/16 in.) x 13.3 cm. (5 ¼ in.)]; Pp. xvi + 250 + 3 leaves of advertisement not counted in pagination. (i) half-title (verso blank); (ii) blank; (iii) frontispiece; (iv) BY THE SAME AUTHOR; (v) title page; (vi) publication data; (vii) dedication (verso blank); ix-xii Introduction, by Harold Ward; (xiii)-(xv) Contents (verso blank); (1) fly-title (verso blank); 3-250 text, followed by 3 leaves of advertisements not counted in pagination. Pages (1), (33), (93), (127), (173), and (221) are fly-titles. Pages (iii), (viii), (xvi), (2), (34), (92), (94), (126), (128), (174), and (222) are blank.
Binding:
Orange-brown cloth; black lettering on front cover and spine; top edge trimmed, else untrimmed. Spine:THE CREAM | OF | THE JEST | JAMES | BRANCH | CABELL | THE BODLEY | HEAD. Front cover: THE CREAM OF| THE JEST| JAMES | BRANCH CABELL (see image above).
Frontispiece:
The Sigil of Scotia, a drawing by James Branch Cabell (see image above).
Also see the discussion of the Sigil of Scotia on the index page for The Cream of the Jest.
Dedication:
TO | LOUISA NELSON | [in italic] "At me ab amore tuo diducet | nulla senectus." (see image above).
Mrs. Louisa Nelson was Cabell's "mammy" as a child, and he remembered her fondly all of his life. He wrote an article about her, "Of Southern Ladies," which was published in the May, 1946, issue of The Atlantic Monthly. This article was later incorporated into Let Me Lie, LML-A1.
Dust jacket:
White paper, black lettering, uillustration in color on front panel (see image above).
Spine: THE | CREAM | OF THE | JEST | JAMES | BRANCH | CABELL | Author of | "JURGEN," | etc. | 7/6 | NET | THE | BODLEY | HEAD
Front panel: [illustration by Frank C. Pápe] [in decorated script within illustration] The CREAM | of the JEST | James Branch Cabell [rule broken by bottom of initial letters J, B, C]
Rear panel: [all enclosed in a single ruled box] JURGEN | By | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | With an Introduction by Hugh Walpole | New Popular Edition | [in italic] Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. | SECOND IMPRESSION | [excerpts from eight reviews] | [rule] JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LTD. VIGO ST., W. 1
Front flap: [all enclosed in a single ruled box] BY THE SAME AUTHOR | [rule] | FIGURES OF | EARTH | [in italic] A Comedy of | Appearances | Crown 8vo | 8s. 6d. net. | excerpts from three reviews | JOHN LANE | The Bodley Head Ltd.
Rear flap: [all enclosed in a single ruled box] FOUR NEW NOVELISTS | [rule] | [advertisements for four novels by different authors] | [rule] JOHN LANE | The Bodley Head Ltd.
