James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
BEYOND LIFE: Dizain des Demiurges
SS Code |
Hall Code |
Hall Description |
Silver Stallion Description |
*BL-B6a (ML) |
BL-B3 (ML) |
Third Modern Library Edition |
Sixth Modern Library Printing, 2nd Binding [Spring 1929] |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto type "F": [All enclosed in a double rule] BEYOND LIFE | [in italic] Dizain des Démiurges | [ a line] | BY | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [ a line] | Introduction by | GUY HOLT| [ a line] | Bernhard Torchbearer device | [4 lines 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 purpose to a life beyond life" | [ a line] | THE MODERN LIBRARY | [ a line] | PUBLISHERS :: :: NEW YORK (see image above).
Title page verso: [in italic] Copyright, 1919, by | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | FOR THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC., BY H. WOLFF (see image above).
Publication:
New York. No date, but catalog at rear, printed contiguously with the text, can be dated to Spring 1929 (includes The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyoder Dostoevsky, but not Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer) (see image above). This is the same printing as *BL-B6 (ML), but in a later binding style.
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] dedication; [vi] blank; [vii-xvii] (marked ix-xix) Introduction; [xviii] blank; [xix] Contents; [xx] blank; [1] I | WE APPROACH; [2] 13 line passage; 3-358 text; [359-362] catalog.
Binding:
Toledano /Kamins Binding Style 51, balloon cloth in in mauve (perhaps "plum" is a good description?). This binding has been reported in red, brown, green, and blue for other titles, so other colors are possible. Differs from style 5a by the lack of a double rule at the top of the spine, above the title. Spine all in gilt: BEYOND | LIFE | [Rule] | CABELL | Grapevine device | MODERN | LIBRARY. Front in gilt: Kent Torchbearer device. (see image above).
The Style 51 binding was issued between April 1929 and May 1930. From Collecting the Modern Library: Barry Neavill notes that this design required a large amount of gold leaf and added half a cent to the binding cost. That extra half-cent doomed it to a short life.
Dedication:
[double rule] To | GUY HOLT | [acrostic verse of seven lines] | [double rule] (see image above).
Endpapers:
Kent design endpapers as used on Modern Library titles 1929-1967 (see image above).
Dust jacket:
Not seen, but probably issued with the Toledana Style DJ-G dustjacket.
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.
