Cabell's Contributions to Books: Reprints in Books
MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES, by E.R. Eddison
Hall Code |
Description |
Cabell Contribution(s) |
*B12a |
First American Printing, second binding state 1935 |
Untitled Dust Jacket Blurb |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto: MISTRESS | OF MISTRESSES | A VISION OF ZIMIAMVIA | BY | E.R. EDDISON | [decoration] | WITH DECORATIONS BY | KEITH HENDERSON | E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC. | NEW YORK (see image above).
Title page verso: MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES | COPYRIGHT 1935 | BY E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC. | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: PRINTED IN U.S.A. | FIRST EDITION (see image above).
Publication:
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.; 1935
Collation:
Crown octavo; [21.6 cm. (8½-in.) x 15.2 cm. (6-in.)]; vi + 464 + 4 blank leaves. (i) half-title (verso blank); (iii) title page; (iv) publication data; (v) dedication (verso blank); vi CONTENTS (verso blank); (1) poem in French by Baudelaire (verso blank); 3-452 text; (453) fly-title: NOTE, AND DRAMATIS PERSONÆ (verso blank); 455-457 NOTE; 458-460 DRAMATIS PERSONÆ; (461) fly-title MAPS; 462-463 Maps of the Three Kingdoms (by Gerald Hayes); (464) decoration (by Keith Henderson); four blank leaves.
Binding:
Brown textured paper boards; red-brown text on spine, red-brown decoration on front cover; all edges trimmed. Spine: MISTRESS | OF | MISTRESSES | by | E.R. | EDDISON | DUTTON (see image above).
Dedication:
W.G.E. | TO YOU, MADONNA MIA | AND TO MY FRIEND | EDWARD ABBE NILES | I DEDICATE | THIS | VISION ON ZIMIAMVIA | [decoration] (see image above).
Note: "W.G.E." was Winifred Grace Eddison, who Eddison married in 1909. E. Abbe Niles was Eddison's close friend and his attorney in America.
Dust jacket:
White paper; lettering and decorations in black (see image above).
Spine: MISTRESS | OF | MISTRESSES | BY | E. R. | EDDISON | ● | Author of | THE WORM | OUROBOROS | [in italic] with decorations by | Keith | Henderson | DUTTON
Front panel: [decoration] | MISTRESS | OF | MISTRESSES | [4-line quote from James Branch Cabell, followed by his facsimile signature, all bounded left and right by 5 vertical lines] | BY | E. R. EDDISON | WITH DECORATIONS BY KEITH HENDERSON | [decoration]
Rear panel: [in italic, underlined] Reprinted from THE OBSERVER, March 17, 1935. | THE FOAM-FOOT STAR-SPARKLING. | [decorated rule] | "Mistress of Mistresses." by E. R. Eddison | [in italic] (BY HUMBERT WOLFE.) | [Long (90-line) review of Mistress of Mistresses in four paragraphs.]
Front flap: MISTRESS OF | MISTRESSES | BY | E. R. | EDDISON | [in italic] Author of | THE WORM OUROBOROS | [36-line blurb in four paragraphs] | [double rule] | E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC. | 300 Fourth Avenue, New York | D.P.-6-35 | [flush right] $3.50
Rear flap: Spanish | Raggle - Taggle | ADVENTURES WITH A FIDDLE IN | NORTH SPAIN | [in italic] by WALTER STARKIE, LITT. D. | [in italic] Professor of Spanish in Dublin University, | Corresponding Member of the Spanish | Academy, Author of "Raggle- | Taggle," etc. | Frontispiece and title page design by | Arthur Rackham | [33-line quote from a review from the New York Herald Tribune]
Notes:
In his bibliography, Hall states that the dust jacket blurb shown here was taken from Romance and the Novel, Cabell's review of Mistress of Mistresses. which appeared in The American Mercury, January, 1936. This is in fact not the case, as you can see by reading the review on The Silver Stallion. Regular SS contributor Doug Anderson has sent us this information:
JBC's comment on the dw of Mistress of Mistresses (Dutton 1935): "I find here--in his finest, his purest, and his most romantic vein--the finest living writer of pure romance". This does not come from a review (as James Hall thought and said in his biblio), but was solicited by John Macrae of Dutton. In a publicity letter that Macrae sent out dated 19 July 1935, Macrae wrote "I have been fortunate in contacting James Branch Cabell who writes me for publication the following statement which is now printed on the outside of the jacket: <same quote as above>"
Cabell did reuse some of the text of his review, though. According to Brewer [p.107 and p.45] some of Romance and the Novel was worked into Chapter 24 of Smire, Hall SME-A1, the final novel in The Nightmare Had Triplets trilogy.
