James Branch Cabell : An Illustrated Bibliography

THE NIGHTMARE HAS TRIPLETS

Hall Code
Description
NHT-Omn-1
Omnibus Edition of the Trilogy 1972

IMAGES

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COMPILATION

Full Title:

Title recto: THE NIGHTMARE | HAS TRIPLETS | Smirt, Smith, and Smire | James Branch Cabell | [publisher's device] | GREENWOOD PRESS, PUBLISHERS | WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT 1972

Title verso: [in italic] The Library of Congress has catalogued this publication as follows: | [rule] | Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data | Cabell, James Branch, 1879-1958. | The nightmare has triplets. | Smirt, Smith, and Smire originally published in 1934, | 1935, and 1937 respectively. | I. Title. | PZ3.C107Ni [PS3505.A153] 813'.5'2 70-156179 | ISBN 0-8371-6122-3 | [rule] | [in italic] Copyright Smirt: 1934 by James Branch Cabell | Renewed 1961 by Margaret Freeman Cabell | Copyright Smith: 1935 by James Branch Cabell | Renewed 1962 by Margaret Freeman Cabell | Copyright Smire: 1937 by James Branch Cabell | Renewed 1964 by Margaret Freeman Cabell | All rights reserved | Originally published in 1934, 1935, and 1937 | by Robert M. McBride & Co., N.Y. (SMIRT & | SMITH); Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., N.Y. | (SMIRE) | Reprinted with the permission | of Margaret Freeman Cabell | SMIRT & SMIRE are reprinted from original | copies in the collections | of the Brooklyn Public Library | Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 70-156179 | ISBN 0-8371-6122-3 | Printed in the Uniterd States of America

Smirt title recto: SMIRT | An Urbane Nightmare | BY BRANCH CABELL | [in italic] "He accepts that middle world in which men | take no side in great conflicts, and decide no | great causes, and make great refusals. He thus | sets for himself the limits within which art, | undisturbed by any moral ambition, does its | most sincere and surest work." | NEW YORK : MCMXXXIV | ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY (see image above).

Smirt title verso: SMIRT | COPYRIGHT, 1934 | BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL | PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES | OF AMERICA | FIRST PUBLISHED, MARCH, 1934 | THIRD EDITION, MARCH, 1934 | First Greenwood Reprinting 1972 (see image above).

Smith title recto: SMITH | A Sylvan Interlude | BY BRANCH CABELL | [in italic] "To look at the man is but to court deception | . . . for no man lives in the external truth, | among salts and acids, but in the warm, phan- | tasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the | painted windows and the storied walls." | NEW YORK : MCMXXXV | ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY (see image above).

Smith title verso: SMITH | COPYRIGHT, 1935 | BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL | PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES | OF AMERICA | FIRST EDITION | First Greenwood Reprinting 1972 (see image above).

Smire title recto: SMIRE | An Acceptance in the Third Person | BY BRANCH CABELL | [in italic] "He was of that small band, standing out as isolated | figures far separated down the ages, who have the gift | of speech; and who are not workers in this or that, not | ploughmen nor carpenters nor followers for gain of any | craft, but who serve the Muses and the leader of their | choir, the God of the Silver Bow." | GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK MCMXXXVII | DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC. (see image above).

Smire title verso: First Greenwood Reprinting 1972 | COPYRIGHT, 1937 | BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | FIRST EDITION (see image above).

Publication:

Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1972

Collation:

Crown octavo [22 cm. (8.66 in.) x 15 cm. (5.9 in.)]; vii, (i) half-title (verso blank); (iii) (title page); (iv) publication data; (v) publisher's note. (verso blank). Followed by:

Smirt: xxii + 310 + 2 blank leaves. (i) half-title (verso blank); (iii) title page; (iv) publication data; (v) dedication (verso blank); vii-xvii Author's Note (verso blank); xix-xxi Contents (verso blank); (1) fly-title, PART ONE; (2) quotation; 3-309 (verso blank); 2 blank leaves. Pages (1), (45), (95), (123), (155), (201), (237), and (271) are fly-titles. Followed by:

Smith: x + 314 pp.; (i) half-title (verso blank); (iii) title page; (iv) publication data; (v) dedication (verso blank); vii-ix Contents (verso blank); (1) fly-title PART ONE; (2) quotation; 3-313 text (verso blank). Pages (1), (47), (115), (193), (241), and (299) are fly-titles. Followed by:

Smire: xii + 312 pp.; (i) half title (verso blank); (iii) title page; (iv) publication data; (v) dedication (verso blank); (vii) Author's Note (verso blank); ix-xi Contents (verso blank); fly-title PART ONE; (2) quotation; 3-311 text (verso blank). Pages (1), (45), (91), (123), (157), (199), (239), and (289) are fly-titles.

Binding:

Brick red cloth; gilt lettering and decorations on spine; front cover blank; all edges trimmed. Spine (all in gilt): CABELL | [rule] | THE NIGHTMARE | HAS TRIPLETS | [rule] | SMIRT, SMITH | & SMIRE | [rule] | [Greenwood Press device at base of spine] (see image above).

Publisher's Note:

THE NIGHTMARE HAS TRIPLETS is a trilogy com- | prising SMIRT (1934), SMITH (1935), and SMIRE | (1937). This is the first American edition of the three | books in one volume. (see image above).

Dedication:

Smirt: For | GEORGE JEAN NATHAN | [16-line acrostic verse in four stanzas] (see image above).

Smith: For | JOHN LOTTIER CABELL | [17-line acrostic verse in 3 unequal stanzas] (see image above).

Smire: For | HUNTER STAGG | [11-line acrostic verse in two unequal stanzas] (see image above).

Dust jacket:

None seen. Greenwood Press normally issues their books without dust jackets, and as far as we know none was issued for this edition.

Notes:

Greenwood Press is an educational publisher. It is now part of the ABC-CLIO Group and is known as ABC-CLIO/Greenwood. 

This volume includes photographic reprints of the third printing (March, 1934) printing of Smirt, the first printing (1935) of Smith, and the first printing (1937) of Smire. All three titles retain their original half-titles, title pages, Author's Notes, and original pagination, while the lists of previous works have been omitted. For Smirt and Smith, "First Greenwood Reprinting 1972" to the title page versos. For Smire, the same note is added, but the original printer's imprint, "PRINTED AT THE Country Life Press, GARDEN CITY, N. Y., U. S. A.," has been deleted.

Hall dates the first printing of this edition to 1971 and reports a second printing dated 1972. However, the only Greenwood Press copies we've seen are dated 1972 on the title page and state "First Greenwood Reprinting 1972" on the versos of the three novel title pages. Based on those data, we are assuming that Hall was wrong and the first Greenwood printing was in fact dated 1972. We would welcome input from any reader who can help clarify this question.

Special thanks to Elly Leiderschnai for scans of her copy of The Nightmare has Triplets, which was the first example we've seen.