James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
THE JEWEL MERCHANTS: A Comedy in one Act
Hall Code |
Description |
JM-A1 |
First Printing 1921 |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title recto: [all enclosed in a red single ruled box crossed by two horizontal rules to form three compartments] [in italic] The Jewel Merchants | A Comedy in One Act | By | James Branch Cabell [red rule] | [in italic] "Io non posso ritrar di tutti appieno: | pero chi si mi caccia il lungo tema, | che molte volte al fatto il dir vien meno." | NEW YORK | ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY | 1921 (see image above).
Title verso: Copyright, 1921, by | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [single rule] | The acting rights to "The Jewel Merchants" are | reserved by the author, to whom application must | be made for the privilege of performing this play. | [in italic] Printed in the | United States of America | [ single rule] | Published, 1921 (see image above).
Publication:
New York: Robert M. McBride, 1921
Collation:
Thin demy octavo [ 19 cm. (8½ in.) x 14 cm. (5½ in.)], all edges untrimmed. 64 pp. (the first 8 unnumbered); (1) half-title (verso blank); (3) limitation; (4) BOOKS by MR. CABELL; (5) title page; (6) publication data; (7) dedication (verso blank); 9-15 The Author's Prologue; (16) Note; (17) Sub-title; 18 list of the original cast; 19-63 text of the play (verso blank).
Binding:
Kalki binding: Brick-red cloth; gilt lettering and decoration on spine and front cover. Lettered down the spine: [in italic]The JEWEL MERCHANTS [device of small gilt triangle] CABELL. Front cover: Kalki device at lower right (see image above).
Limitation:
[in italic] This edition is limited to one thousand and | forty numbered copies, of which one hun- | dred copies have been signed by the author. | Copy number [handwritten in purple, underlined] 967 (see image above).
Dedication:
[single rule] TO | LOUISE BURLEIGH | [in italic] This latest avatar of so many notions | which were originally hers. (see image above).
Dust jacket:
Dark green heavy paper, printed on front panel only: [all enclosed in a single ruled box] [in italic] The | JEWEL MERCHANTS | [in italic] By | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [Kalki device] (see image above).
Notes:
The Italian quotation on the title page is from La Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri, Book I, Inferno, Canto IV. In a modern translation by Courtney Langdon, published by the Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1918, it reads:
I cannot speak of all of them in full because my long theme drives me on so fast, that oft my words fall short of what I did.
