James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography
THE CORDS OF VANITY
Hall Code |
Description |
*CoV-B1b (E) |
First English Printing, Third State [1914] |
COMPILATION
Full Title:
Title page recto: The Cords of Vanity | [in italic] By | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | publisher's device | LONDON| HUTCHINSON & CO. | Paternoster Row | 1909 (see image above).
Title page verso: PRINTED IN NEW YORK, U.S.A. | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION| INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN (see image above).
Publication:
London: Hutchinson & Co., 1909 (1914)
Brussel reports that the first state of the English issue was released on August 31, 1909, and this title page still carries a 1909 date. The catalogue at rear is dated Spring, 1914, so we have assigned that date to this issue.
Collation:
Crown octavo [19.3 cm. (7 ⅝ in.) x 12.5 cm. (5 in.)], xx + 342 with tipped-in frontispiece. Page (1) half-title (verso blank); tipped-in frontispiece; (iii) cancel title page; (v) Dedication (verso blank); (vii) six-line prose quotation (verso blank); ix-x Contents; xi-xx Prologue; (1) fly-title (verso blank); 3-341 text; (342) blank; (pp. 343 - 375; catalogue pages are actually numbered 1,2, (3), 4-19, (20), 21-32) Hutchinson catalogue dated Spring, 1914.
Binding:
Light red cloth; gilt printing on spine and front; all edges trimmed. Spine: THE | CORDS | OF | VANITY | JAMES BRANCH| CABELL | HUTCHINSON & Co. (last letter raised). Front cover: [all enclosed in a single line white rule] THE CORDS OF VANITY | (see image above).
Note: This issue measures about 3.8 cm. (1½ in.) wide, compared with 3.5 cm. (1 7/16 in.) for CoV-A1a. The extra width is, of course, due to the inclusion of the 32-page Hutchinson catalogue.
Frontispiece:
Painting of a man seated; subscribed "I ADORED WITHIN THESE FOUR YEARS PRECISELY A DOZEN GIRLS, | AND . . . WROTE VERSES OF THEM." The painting is by C. Coles, Phillips, and is signed C. COLES PHILLIP" (sic). Phillips was a popular magazine illustrator of the period, and the work is in his unique "fadeaway" style (see image above).
Dedication:
TO | GABRIELLE BROOKE MONCURE | [in italic] Plus sapit vulgus, quia lantum, quantum opus est, sapit. (see image above).
Catalogue:
Hutchinson catalog dated Spring, 1914, (32 pp.) bound in at rear (see image above).
Dust jacket:
Not seen.
Notes:
Not listed in previous bibliographies, this is a later reissue bound with a 1914-dated Hutchinson catalogue. We have seen two copies of this issue; one is from the collection of Guy Morris (writer and critic from New Zealand), and the other was acquired from a dealer in Switzerland.
See also the issue notes on index page for The Cords of Vanity.
