{
  "full": "\n**JAMES BRANCH CABELL. THE CREAM OF THE JEST. 1927–1939. (ML 126)** \n\n#### 131. First printing (1927) \n\n[within double rules] THE CREAM OF | THE JEST | [rule] | BY | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [rule] | INTRODUCTION | BY | HAROLD WARD | [rule] | [torchbearer A2] | [rule] | THE MODERN LIBRARY | PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK \n\nPp. [i–viii] ix–xii [xiii–xvi], [1–2] 3–250 [251–256]. [1–8]16 [9]8 \n\n[i] half title; [ii] pub. note D5; [iii] title; [iv] *Copyright,* 1917, *by* | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [short double rule] | *Eighth Printing* | *First Modern Library Edition* | 1927; [v] linecut of cryptogrammic seal; [vi] blank; [vii] dedication; [viii] blank; ix–xii *Introduction* signed p. xii: Harold Ward. | New York, | *30 October, 1922*.; [xiii–xv] *Contents*; [xvi] blank; [1] fly title; [2] part title: BOOK FIRST; 3–250 text; [251–254] ML subject index; [255–256] blank. (*Fall 1925*) \n\n> *Variant A:* Pagination and collation as 131. Contents (including *First* statement) as 131 except: [251–254] ML list. (*Spring 1927*) *Note:* The spring 1927 list has been seen on two subsequent printings: one as variant A except: [ii] pub. note A5; another (with *First* statement omitted) as variant A except: [ii] pub. note A6. It is possible that 131, 131 variant A, and perhaps copies with pub. note A5 were counted as part of the 8,000-copy first printing. \n\n> *Variant B:* Pagination and collation as 131. Contents as 131 except: [ii] pub. note A6; [iv] manufacturing statement; [251–252] blank; [253–256] ML list. (*Fall 1928*)\n\n> *Variant C:* Pagination and collation as 131. Contents as 131 except: [ii] pub. note A6; [iv] *Copyright,* 1917, *by* | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [short double rule]; [1] part title: BOOK FIRST; [2] blank; [251–255] ML list; [256] blank. (*Spring 1932*) *Note:* The part title replaces the fly title used in earlier ML printings, and the verso of the leaf is blank. \n\n*Jacket A:* Uniform typographic jacket B. \n\n> Text on front:
 “The Cream of the Jest is in ground plan an attempt to lay bare the secret soul of Felix Kennaston, a successful novelist—not the Bovaryan pseudo-soul visible to his wife and his neighbors, but that esoteric spirit which transcends time and space, and has its adventures in the superworld of the imagination. Outwardly, Kennaston is a discreet and reputable man—a convinced monogamist, a dutiful householder, a docile Presbyterian. But within him there dwells an adventurer who ranges the whole of the visible universe, and a lover who has found his heart’s desire. Upon the framework of this story Mr. Cabell hangs the loot of much intellectual marauding—brilliant bits of irony, penetrating reflections upon faiths and ideas, a whole agnostic philosophy. It would be difficult to match this book in American fiction . . . A thing obviously written *con amore* joyously without regard to markets. The reader it will attract is precisely the reader most worth attracting. It is not a popular novel, not a story, not a mere time-killer: it is a piece of literature.” —*H.* *L. Mencken*. (*Spring 1927*) \n\n*Jacket B:* Uniform typographic jacket D. (*Spring 1930*) \n\n> Front flap:
 The charming vagaries of the inhabitants of James Branch Cabell’s mythical world are, like our own, gropings and blunderings toward the illusion of a better way of life. Guided by this sceptical and urbane philosopher, this man of humor and uncanny insight, we explore the enchanted kingdom of Poictesme, following the adventures of Felix Kennaston in quest of the eternal “something else.” Through the allegory of *The Cream of the Jest* we discover something of what is in this world and in the worlds desired by men. (*Spring 1935*) \n\nOriginally published by Robert M. McBride & Co., 1917; new bibliographical edition 1922 (the fifth McBride printing) with introduction by Harold Ward added and “slight revisions and additions” (Brussel, p. 55) in the text. ML edition (pp. [v]–250), including Ward’s introduction, printed from plates of the second McBride typesetting with McBride half title used as a fly title in early ML printings. Publication announced for January 1927. *WR* 12 March 1927. First printing: 8,000 copies. Discontinued 1 January 1940. \n\nCerf expressed interest in *The Cream of the Jest* as early as July 1925, but only as a second choice if he was unable to get Cabell’s *Jurgen* for the ML. At that time McBride was thinking about publishing a “cheap edition of all of Cabell’s books, and for that reason we do not want to do anything that would militate against the sale of such an edition” (Guy Holt, McBride, to Cerf, 24 August 1925). The cheap edition never appeared, and McBride authorized a ML edition of *The Cream of the Jest* the following year. *Jurgen* (271) was not included in the ML until 1934. \n\nThe first ML printing was in November 1926, unusually early for a title announced for January publication. November 1926 was also the date of the eighth McBride printing, so the ML may have joined the McBride print run. (The verso of the title pages of 131 and 131 variant A state “*Eighth Printing* | *First Modern Library Edition* | *1927*”.) This might explain the inclusion of the outdated subject index in the first ML printing. The ML subject index in 131 and the spring 1927 list in 131 variant A occupy the same number of pages, but plates for the ML’s spring lists usually weren’t available as early as November. \n\nIn addition to the first printing of 8,000 copies, the RH archives (which may be incomplete) record printings of 5,000 copies each in August 1927 and September 1928, a printing of 2,000 copies in May 1930, and printings of 1,000 copies each in 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, and 1937, for a total of at least 25,000 copies. \n\nSales of *The Cream of the Jest* during the first six months of 1928 placed it 33rd out of 147 ML titles. \n\nAlso in the Modern Library
 Cabell, *Beyond Life* (1923–1935) 104
 Cabell, *Jurgen* (1934–1943) 271
 \n\n",
  "id": "131",
  "year": "1927",
  "label": "JAMES BRANCH CABELL. THE CREAM OF THE JEST. 1927–1939. (ML 126)",
  "author": "JAMES BRANCH CABELL",
  "title": "THE CREAM OF THE JEST.",
  "date": "1927–1939.",
  "something": "ML 126",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "id": "131",
      "title": "First printing (1927) ",
      "full": "\n\n[within double rules] THE CREAM OF | THE JEST | [rule] | BY | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [rule] | INTRODUCTION | BY | HAROLD WARD | [rule] | [torchbearer A2] | [rule] | THE MODERN LIBRARY | PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK \n\nPp. [i–viii] ix–xii [xiii–xvi], [1–2] 3–250 [251–256]. [1–8]16 [9]8 \n\n[i] half title; [ii] pub. note D5; [iii] title; [iv] *Copyright,* 1917, *by* | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [short double rule] | *Eighth Printing* | *First Modern Library Edition* | 1927; [v] linecut of cryptogrammic seal; [vi] blank; [vii] dedication; [viii] blank; ix–xii *Introduction* signed p. xii: Harold Ward. | New York, | *30 October, 1922*.; [xiii–xv] *Contents*; [xvi] blank; [1] fly title; [2] part title: BOOK FIRST; 3–250 text; [251–254] ML subject index; [255–256] blank. (*Fall 1925*) \n\n> *Variant A:* Pagination and collation as 131. Contents (including *First* statement) as 131 except: [251–254] ML list. (*Spring 1927*) *Note:* The spring 1927 list has been seen on two subsequent printings: one as variant A except: [ii] pub. note A5; another (with *First* statement omitted) as variant A except: [ii] pub. note A6. It is possible that 131, 131 variant A, and perhaps copies with pub. note A5 were counted as part of the 8,000-copy first printing. \n\n> *Variant B:* Pagination and collation as 131. Contents as 131 except: [ii] pub. note A6; [iv] manufacturing statement; [251–252] blank; [253–256] ML list. (*Fall 1928*)\n\n> *Variant C:* Pagination and collation as 131. Contents as 131 except: [ii] pub. note A6; [iv] *Copyright,* 1917, *by* | JAMES BRANCH CABELL | [short double rule]; [1] part title: BOOK FIRST; [2] blank; [251–255] ML list; [256] blank. (*Spring 1932*) *Note:* The part title replaces the fly title used in earlier ML printings, and the verso of the leaf is blank. \n\n*Jacket A:* Uniform typographic jacket B. \n\n> Text on front:
 “The Cream of the Jest is in ground plan an attempt to lay bare the secret soul of Felix Kennaston, a successful novelist—not the Bovaryan pseudo-soul visible to his wife and his neighbors, but that esoteric spirit which transcends time and space, and has its adventures in the superworld of the imagination. Outwardly, Kennaston is a discreet and reputable man—a convinced monogamist, a dutiful householder, a docile Presbyterian. But within him there dwells an adventurer who ranges the whole of the visible universe, and a lover who has found his heart’s desire. Upon the framework of this story Mr. Cabell hangs the loot of much intellectual marauding—brilliant bits of irony, penetrating reflections upon faiths and ideas, a whole agnostic philosophy. It would be difficult to match this book in American fiction . . . A thing obviously written *con amore* joyously without regard to markets. The reader it will attract is precisely the reader most worth attracting. It is not a popular novel, not a story, not a mere time-killer: it is a piece of literature.” —*H.* *L. Mencken*. (*Spring 1927*) \n\n*Jacket B:* Uniform typographic jacket D. (*Spring 1930*) \n\n> Front flap:
 The charming vagaries of the inhabitants of James Branch Cabell’s mythical world are, like our own, gropings and blunderings toward the illusion of a better way of life. Guided by this sceptical and urbane philosopher, this man of humor and uncanny insight, we explore the enchanted kingdom of Poictesme, following the adventures of Felix Kennaston in quest of the eternal “something else.” Through the allegory of *The Cream of the Jest* we discover something of what is in this world and in the worlds desired by men. (*Spring 1935*) \n\nOriginally published by Robert M. McBride & Co., 1917; new bibliographical edition 1922 (the fifth McBride printing) with introduction by Harold Ward added and “slight revisions and additions” (Brussel, p. 55) in the text. ML edition (pp. [v]–250), including Ward’s introduction, printed from plates of the second McBride typesetting with McBride half title used as a fly title in early ML printings. Publication announced for January 1927. *WR* 12 March 1927. First printing: 8,000 copies. Discontinued 1 January 1940. \n\nCerf expressed interest in *The Cream of the Jest* as early as July 1925, but only as a second choice if he was unable to get Cabell’s *Jurgen* for the ML. At that time McBride was thinking about publishing a “cheap edition of all of Cabell’s books, and for that reason we do not want to do anything that would militate against the sale of such an edition” (Guy Holt, McBride, to Cerf, 24 August 1925). The cheap edition never appeared, and McBride authorized a ML edition of *The Cream of the Jest* the following year. *Jurgen* (271) was not included in the ML until 1934. \n\nThe first ML printing was in November 1926, unusually early for a title announced for January publication. November 1926 was also the date of the eighth McBride printing, so the ML may have joined the McBride print run. (The verso of the title pages of 131 and 131 variant A state “*Eighth Printing* | *First Modern Library Edition* | *1927*”.) This might explain the inclusion of the outdated subject index in the first ML printing. The ML subject index in 131 and the spring 1927 list in 131 variant A occupy the same number of pages, but plates for the ML’s spring lists usually weren’t available as early as November. \n\nIn addition to the first printing of 8,000 copies, the RH archives (which may be incomplete) record printings of 5,000 copies each in August 1927 and September 1928, a printing of 2,000 copies in May 1930, and printings of 1,000 copies each in 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, and 1937, for a total of at least 25,000 copies. \n\nSales of *The Cream of the Jest* during the first six months of 1928 placed it 33rd out of 147 ML titles. \n\nAlso in the Modern Library
 Cabell, *Beyond Life* (1923–1935) 104
 Cabell, *Jurgen* (1934–1943) 271
 \n\n"
    }
  ],
  "type": "book"
}