Full Title:

Title page recto: The Cream of the Jest | [in italic] A Comedy of Evasion | by JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [in italic] Edited for the Modern Reader by | Joseph M. Flora | UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA | New College and University Press, Inc. | Albany, NY 12203 (see image above).

Title page verso: [in italic] Copyright © 1975 by | College and University Press Services, Inc. | All Rights Reserved | Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-78857 | New Material, Introduction and Notes | by JOSEPH M. FLORA | 2345678901 CCCC 8765432109 (see image above).

Publication:

Albany, N.Y.: New College and University Press, Inc., n.d. (c. 1983-1986)

Collation:

Large format paperback [20.3 cm. (8 in.) x 13.2 cm. (5 3/16 in.)]. Pp. 207; (i) half-title (verso blank); (3) title page; (4) publication data; 5-12 Introduction; (13) fly-title; (14) quotation; 15-23 Author's Note (verso blank); (25)-(26) Contents; (27) fly-title; (28) dedication; (29) fly-title; (30) quotation; 31-185 text (verso blank); 187-205 Appendix (verso blank); (207)-(208) blank leaf. Pages (13), (27), (29), (49), (85), (105), (133), (163), and (181) are fly-titles. Pages (ii), (24), (84), (162), (186), and (206)-(208) are blank.

Wraps:

Pale blue paper wraps, black lettering and decorations (see image above).

Spine: [lettered down the spine] CABELL THE CREAM OF THE JEST | [New College & University Press logo]

Front panel: [in italic] Masterworks of [Masterworks logo] Literature Series | [at right, illustration] [at left] THE CREAM | OF THE | JEST [in blue italic, on black ground] James Branch Cabell | [bottom of panel] [in italic] Edited for the Modern Reader by | Joseph M. Flora

Rear panel: THE CREAM OF THE JEST | by James Branch Cabell | Edited by Joseph M. Flora | [22-line blurb in three paragraphs] | ABOUT THE EDITOR | [12-line biography in two paragraphs] | NEW COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY PRESS | ALBANY, NY 12203 | [flush right] ISBN # 0-8084-0396-6

Dedication:

[in italic] To | LOUISA NELSON | "At me ab amore tuo diducet | nulla senectus." (see image above).

Notes:

The name of The College and University Press was changed to The New College and University Press in 1983, and the firm apparently ceased operations in 1986. This undated printing dates from that period, therefore, although it is not clear just how many printings were done.

It's also not quite clear to us exactly what edits might have been necessary for this novel to be read and understood by the "Modern Reader" of 1983. This edition contains, though, a useful tool for the Cabell scholar: its Appendix lists the changes Mr. Cabell made between the 1917 first edition, the 1922 Kalki edition, and the final 1930 Storisende edition.