James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
THE CREAM OF THE JEST: A Comedy of Evasions
Modern Library Printings
Hall Code |
Description |
CoJ-D1 (ML) |
First Modern Library Printing 1927 [1926] |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto type "G": [All enclosed in a double rule] THE CREAM OF | THE JEST | [rule] | BY | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [rule] | INTRODUCTION | BY | HAROLD WARD | [rule] | Bernhard Torchbearer device | [rule} | THE MODERN LIBRARY | PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK (see image above).
Title page verso: [in italic] Copyright, 1917, by | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [double rule] [in italic] Eighth Printing | First Modern Library Edition | 1927 | [in italic] Manufactured in the United | States of America | [in italic] Bound for The Modern Library, Inc., by H. Wolff (see image above).
Publication:
New York, 1927 (1926?). Catalog at rear, printed contiguously with the text, can be dated to Fall 1925 (includes Camille, by Alexandre Dumas, but not Poor White, by Sherwood Anderson) (see image above). It should be noted that, according to Modern Library bibliographers, titles issued early in the year often contained catalogs issued in the previous fall.
Collation:
Sextodecimo [16.8 cm. (6 5/8-inches) x 10.8 cm. (4 1/4-inches)]. [i] half-title; [ii] advt; [iii] title; [iv] copyright; [v] line drawing; [vi] blank; [vii] dedication; [viii] blank; ix-xii INTRODUCTION; [xiii - xv] Contents; [xvi] blank; [1] The | Cream | of | the Jest; [2] [rule] | BOOK FIRST | [8 line poem] | [rule]; 3-250 text; [251-254] catalog; [255] blank leaf.
Binding:
Toledano Binding Style 4. Flexible leatherette in black and green (also likely in brown and blue). Spine all in gilt: [Double rule] | THE | CREAM | OF THE | JEST | [Rule] | CABELL | MODERN | LIBRARY | [Double rule]. Front in gilt: Bernhard Torchbearer device. (see images above).
Frontispiece:
Line drawing by James Branch Cabell: The Sigil of Scotia (see image above).
Dedication:
TO | LOUISA NELSON | [in italic] "At me ab amore tuo diducet | nulla senectus." (see image above).
Endpapers:
Bernhard design endpapers, as used in Modern Library titles 1925-1929 (see image above).
Dust jacket:
Not seen, but it would likely have been a Style DJ-E dust jacket, as used 1926-1928.
Notes:
For an explanation of the terms used on this page that are specific to The Modern Library, see the Cabell in The Modern Library page.
