James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
BEYOND LIFE: Dizain des Demiurges
Hall Code |
Description |
BL-A2 |
Second Printing 1919 |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto: BEYOND | LIFE | [rule] | [in italic] Dizain des Démiurges | [rule] BY | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [in italic] "Many a man lives a burden to the earth: | but a good book is the precious life-blood of a | master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on pur- | pose to a life beyond life." | NEW YORK | ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY | 1919 (see image above).
Title page verso: Copyright 1919 | By | ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY | [rule] | [in italic] Printed in the United States of America | Second Printing, March, 1919. | [rule] | Published January, 1919. (see image above).
Publication:
New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., March, 1919.
Collation:
Crown octavo [19.2 cm. (7 9/16 in.) x 12.7 cm. (5 in.)]; pp. (viii) + 368; (i) half title; (ii) Books by Mr. Cabell; (iii) title page; (iv) publication data; (v) dedication (verso blank); (vii) Contents (verso blank); (1) -358 text. Pp. 359-366 Some Other Books by Mr. Cabell (With Tributes of the Press). Pp. (320) and (368) are blank. Pp. (1), (21), (53), (83), (125), (161), (201), (241), (275), and (321) are fly-titles.
Binding:
Dark true-brown cloth; gilt lettering on front cover and spine; all edges trimmed. Spine: Beyond | Life | [rule] | Cabell | McBride. Front cover: [blind rule all around] Beyond Life | James Branch Cabell (see image above).
Dedication:
[double rule] | To | GUY HOLT | [6 line acrostic verse] | [double rule] (see image above).
Dust jacket:
Black lettering and illustrations on buff paper (see image above).
Spine: BEYOND | LIFE | [rule] | CABELL | [in black on a red paste-on label] $1.75 | McBride
Front Panel: ¶ [3 line appreciation of Cabell, in italic] | [in italic] - BURTON RASCOE, Literary Editor of the Chicago Tribune | BEYOND | LIFE | [double rule] James Branch Cabell [device] | [double rule] ¶ In which John Charteris treats | of many things at which the | worls has wondered for cen- | turies: of Romance and what it | has bred; of the Witch-woman | and her wiles, of ancient fears | and modern superstitions; and | of men, women and books | throughout all times. | [in italic, underlined] Two Opinions | ¶ [7 line appreciation of Cabell, in italic, by H.L. Mencken] | ¶ [4 line appreciation of Cabell, in italic, by Wilson Follett]
Rear Panel: [double rule] [in italic] Of General Interest | [rule] | BEYOND LIFE | [in italic] By James Branch Cabell | 12 line blurb | ["$1.50 net" marked out, new price hand written in pencil] $1.75. | POEMS | [in italic] By Geoffrey Dearmer | 11 line blurb | $1.00 net | RIMES IN OLIVE DRAB | [in italic] By Sergeant John Pierre Roche | 7 line blurb | Bound in olive drab cloth, pocket size, $1.00 net. | [rule] Robert M. McBride & Co., Publishers, Union Square North, N. Y. | [rule]
Front Flap: [device of man seated, reading a book] | Are you interested | In Book News? | ¶ [10 line advertisement] | [double rule] Robert M. McBride & Co., | Publishers | Union Square, New York | Please send me announcements of | your new books as issued. | Name .................. | Address .......................... | ...........................
Rear Flap: [silhouette of WWI British Tommy, seated facing right] Have you recently read | Travel | "the magazine that takes you there" | ? | ¶ [13 line advertisement] | 35 cents a copy $4. a year | [double rule] | ROBERT M. McBRIDE & CO. | Publishers | Union Square, New York | I enclose $1.00 for a special four | month's trial subscription to TRAVEL. | Name .................. | Address .......................... | ........................... | ............... | [device of figures standing and seated]
The second state dust jacket provided on this printing is identical to that used on the first printing (BL-A1), except that the original price of $1.50 shown on the spine has been covered by a small label reading $1.75, and the price shown on the rear for the title has been marked out in pencil and changed to $1.75 as well. It's worth noting that the prices of the other two titles (both verse) advertised on the rear panel have not been changed from their original price of $1.00 each (see image above).
Some things never change, and the perennially slow sales of volumes of poetry is one of those things.
Notes:
1. The quotation on the title page is by John Milton, excerpted from Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England (1644).
2. On the title page, the "é" in "Démiurges" has been corrected. It was missing its accent in the first printing, BL-A1.
3. The page numbers have been removed from the fly-titles. They were present on all except the first in the first printing.
