James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
THE CREAM OF THE JEST: A Comedy of Evasions
Hall Code |
Description |
*CoJ-C4 (P) |
Second Printing, English Illustrated Edition 1927 |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto: THE CREAM OF | THE JEST | [in italic] A Comedy of Evasions | BY | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HAROLD WARD | ILLUSTRATED BY FRANK C. PAPÉ | " 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 dispenseras, chère tête, de remercier ta réalité." | [decoration] | LONDON | JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LIMITED (see image above).
Title page verso: [in italic] First published in 1927 | PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (see image above).
Publication:
New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., October, 1927
Collation:
Small royal octavo [24.3 cm. (9 9/16 in.) x 16.5 cm. (6½ in.)]; xx + 244 pp.; (i) half-title; (ii) Books by Mr. Cabell; (not counted in pagination) recto blank, verso frontispiece; (iii) title page; (iv) publication data; (v) dedication (verso blank); (vii)-xi A Note on Lichfield (verso blank); xiii-xvi Introduction, by Harold Ward; xvii-xviii Contents; (xix) Illustrations (verso blank); (1) fly-title BOOK FIRST (verso blank); 3-243 text (verso blank). Pages (1), (33), (89), (123), (169), and (215) are fly-titles. Pages (2), (34), (90), (124), (170), (216), and (244) are blank. Tipped-in illustrations face pages (iii), 26, 56, 88, 104, 134, 138, 172, 186, 200, 212, and 236.
Binding:
Black cloth, gilt lettering and decorations on spine and front cover; top edge trimmed and stained red, else untrimmed. Spine: THE | CREAM | OF THE | JEST | [rule] | CABELL | McBRIDE. Front cover: [all in decorative script] The CREAM | of the JEST | [illustration in lower loop of "J"] | James Branch | CABELL | Illustrated by | FRANK C. PAPÉ (see image above).
Frontispiece:
"NIGHTLY HE WENT ADVENTURING WITH ETTARE" [drawing by Frank Papé] (see image above).
Dedication:
[in italic] To | LOUISA NELSON | [in italic] "At me ab amore tuo diducet | nulla senectus." (see image above).
Endpapers:
Left panel: Felix Kennaston at home, with his wife.
Right panel: Kennaston in his dreams, with Ettare.
Both panels drawn by Frank Papé, printed on grey paper (see image above).
Dust jacket / Box:
Black paper, lettering and decorations in red (see image above).
Spine: THE | CREAM | OF THE | JEST | [rule] | CABELL | SECOND | PRINTING | [McBride Liberty Bell device] | McBRIDE
Front panel: SECOND PRINTING | [all following in decorative script] The CREAM | of the JEST | [illustration in lower loop of "J"] | James Branch | CABELL | Illustrated by | FRANK C. PAPÉ
Rear panel: THE KALKI EDITION OF THE WORKS OF | [in italic] James Branch Cabell | [decorated rule] | [list of 17 titles] | [in italic] Each, Cloth, $2.50 net | [decorated rule] | [in decorative script] Robert M. McBride & Company | PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Front flap: [flush right, in italic] $5.00 net | [rule] | [device] | ILLUSTRATED EDITION | WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE DRAW- | INGS AND MANY HEAD AND | TAILPIECES BY | FRANK C. PAPÉ
Rear flap: [decorated rule] | [coupon for Book News] | [decorated rule]
Notes:
This second John Lane printing, not reported by Hall, is simply the second McBride printing, Hall CoJ-C2 (P), with a cancel title page. The binding still reads "McBride" at the base of the spine, and the dust jacket is also from the McBride printing, with the price in dollars.
