James Branch Cabell (1879–1958)
Author of Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice
About the Author
James Branch Cabell (1879-1956) is best known for his tales of the imaginary land of Poictesme, where chivalry and galantry live on
Image credit: Carl Van Vechten
Series
Works by James Branch Cabell
Taboo: A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Sævius Nicanor, with Prolegomena, Notes, and a Preliminary Memoir (1921) 28 copies
The Judging of Jurgen 8 copies
Ballades from the hidden way 8 copies
THE MAJORS AND THEIR MARRIAGES, with collateral Accounts of the allied Families of Aston, Ballard, Christian, Dancy,… (2011) 8 copies
These Restless Heads by James Branch Cabell boxed with James Branch Cabell by Carl Van Doren (2 volumes) (1932) 6 copies
James Branch Cabell Combo #1: Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice/Figures of Earth/The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck (James… (2013) 2 copies
Porcelain Cups 2 copies
The Rhyme To Porringer 2 copies
Of Ellen Glasgow 2 copies
In The Second April 2 copies
Heart Of Gold [story] 2 copies
Actors All 2 copies
L'incubo 2 copies
Some Ladies And Jurgen 2 copies
The Scapegoats [story] 2 copies
The Happy Ending [story] 1 copy
James Branch Cabell 1 copy
Manuel Saga 2: The Silver Stallion; Domnei; The Music From Behind the Moon; The White Robe, in Russian (1994) 1 copy
Music & Pigeons 1 copy
THE TABOO IN LITERATURE 1 copy
The Bookman, November-December 1919 — Contributor; Editor — 1 copy
The Novel of Tomorrow and the Scope of Fiction: Part II of The New Republic for April 12th, 1922 1 copy
The Reviewer, Volume II, Numbers 1-6 (October 1921-March 1922) — Contributor; Guest Editor — 1 copy
JURGEN 1 copy
Copy of a Letter : from James Branch Cabell to "Grandpa" (Branch or Cabell?), 20[?] July 1888 1 copy
The Complete Works of James Branch Cabell (11 Complete Works of James Branch Cabell Including Chivalry, Domnei, Figures… (2015) 1 copy
Affairs in Poictesme 1 copy
Letter : from James Branch Cabell to Paul M. A. Linebarger (Cordwainer Smith), 20 January 1932 1 copy
Love At Martinmas 1 copy
The Reviewer : Vol II, No. 3 (Dec. 1921) — Guest editor — 1 copy
Simon's Hour 1 copy
The Casual Honeymoon 1 copy
April's Message 1 copy
The Ducal Audience 1 copy
Don Manuel di Poictesme 1 copy
Associated Works
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, All the Sad Young Men & Other Writings 1920–26 (LOA #353) (Library of… (2022) — Contributor — 99 copies
The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story (1919) — Contributor — 14 copies
Fifty Years of the American Short Story from the O. Henry Awards 1919-1970 (1970) — Contributor — 13 copies
Jurgen and the Censor: Report of the Emergency Committee Organized to Protest Against the Suppression of James Branch… (1920) — Contributor — 10 copies
A Bibliography of the Writings of James Branch Cabell; A Revised Bibliography (1932) — Foreword — 9 copies
The Smart set; a history and anthology — Contributor — 9 copies
Breaking into print; being a compilation of papers wherein each of a select group of authors tells of the difficulties… (1937) — Contributor — 9 copies
Immortal Lyrics: An Anthology of English Lyric Poetry from Sir Walter Raleigh to A.E. Housman (1938) — contributor to introduction — 8 copies
A bibliographic check-list of the works of James Branch Cabell, 1904-1921 (1921) — Preface — 8 copies
James Branch Cabell: A Bibliography, Part II. Notes on the Cabell Collections at the University of Virginia (1957) — Contributor — 7 copies
Southern Poets - Representative Selections, with Introduction, Bibliography, and Notes (1936) — Contributor — 5 copies
Faunus: The Journal of the Friends of Arthur Machen (Spring 2014, Number Twenty-Nine) — Contributor — 4 copies
James Branch Cabell: A Bibliography of his Writings, Biography and Criticism (1957) — Foreword — 4 copies
1935 Essay Annual — Contributor — 4 copies
Morrow's Almanack and Every Day Book For 1930 — Contributor — 4 copies
Fifty Years of the American Short Story: from the O. Henry Awards 1919-1970 (Volume I) (1970) — Contributor — 3 copies
The American Spectator : A Literary Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 1 (November, 1932) — Editor — 3 copies
Little Verses and Big Names — Contributor — 2 copies
The Atlantic, October 1946 — Contributor — 2 copies
Saturday Evening Post, August 6, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
McBride's Magazine, September 1915 — Contributor — 1 copy
The American Spectator : A Literary Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 5 — Editor — 1 copy
Second-hand Man — Contributor — 1 copy
Prize stories from Collier's, 5 volumes — Contributor — 1 copy
The Reviewer, Volume I, Numbers 1-12 (April-August 1921) — Contributor — 1 copy
The Nation (September 12, 1953) — Contributor — 1 copy
The American Spectator : A Literary Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 4 — Editor — 1 copy
The Reviewer, Volume IV, Numbers 1-5 (October 1923-October 1924) — Contributor — 1 copy
The Reviewer : Vol I, No. 8 (June 1, 1921) — Contributor — 1 copy
The American Spectator : A Literary Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 3 — Editor — 1 copy
Fellowship : December 1921 — Contributor — 1 copy
Saturday Evening Post, October 1, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
Saturday Evening Post, August 13, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
Saturday Evening Post, September 10, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
The Red Book, November 1925 — Contributor — 1 copy
Reading and collecting; a monthly review of rare and recent books: Volume 1, Number 11 (October 1937) — Contributor — 1 copy
American Short Stories: Anthology [Mi-Sefarim Amerikai'im: Antologiyah shel Ha-Sipur Ha-Ketsar Ha-Amerkai] — Contributor — 1 copy
American Mercury, August 1930 — Contributor — 1 copy
American Mercury, July 1931 — Contributor — 1 copy
The Dial, February 22, 1919 — Contributor — 1 copy
American Mercury, December 1951 — Contributor — 1 copy
The Nation — Contributor — 1 copy
Poetry Magazine Vol. 6 No. 5, August 1915 — Contributor, some editions — 1 copy
The Golden Book Magazine, Vol II No 10 (October 1925) — Contributor — 1 copy
The Golden Book Magazine, Vol IX No 43 (June 1929) — Contributor — 1 copy
Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol 6 No 3 (July 1930) — Contributor — 1 copy
Saturday Evening Post, August 27, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
The Georgia Review, Vol VII No 3 (Fall 1953) — Contributor — 1 copy
Gates of Life — jacket blurb, some editions — 1 copy
Saturday Review of Literature, Vol XXV, No. 31 (August 1, 1942) — Contributor — 1 copy
Abstracts from reviews of 'Ole Marster and other verses' — blurb, some editions — 1 copy
The Jewel Merchants, in Lino-cuts — Contributor — 1 copy
The American Spectator : A Literary Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 7 — Editor — 1 copy
The Argosy, Volume XXXVIII (December 1901 to March 1902) — Contributor — 1 copy
The American Spectator : A Literary Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 6 — Editor — 1 copy
Saturday Evening Post, September 3, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
Saturday Evening Post, August 20, 1904 — Contributor — 1 copy
Direction, Vol 1 No 1 (Autumn 1934) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Cabell, Branch
Washington, Burwell (pseudonym)
Jefferson, Henry Lee (pseudonym)
Anderson, Claiborne Hauks (pseudonym) - Birthdate
- 1879-04-14
- Date of death
- 1958-05-05
- Burial location
- Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Richmond, Virginia, USA
- Place of death
- Richmond, Virginia, USA
- Places of residence
- Richmond, Virginia, USA
New York, New York, USA
St. Augustine, Florida, USA
Williamsburg, Virginia, USA - Education
- College of William and Mary (BA|1898)
- Occupations
- novelist
short-story writer
essayist
poet
reporter
editor (show all 7)
geneaologist - Relationships
- Glasgow, Ellen (friend)
Cabell, Margaret Freeman (wife)
Munford, Beverley Bland (uncle)
Tompkins, Ellen Wilkins (cousin)
Harrison, Henry Sydnor (cousin)
Rives, Amelie (cousin) (show all 12)
Cabell, James Alston (cousin)
Cabell, Isa Carrington (cousin)
Harrison, Norvell (cousin)
Christian, W. E. (cousin)
Bouve, Pauline Carrington (cousin)
Bowie, Walter Russell (cousin) - Awards and honors
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1937)
- Short biography
- Cabell, Branch - (James Branch Cabell)kăˈbəl, 1879–1958, American novelist, b. Richmond, Va., grad. William and Mary, 1898. "As a mnemonic for the pronunciation of his name, he wrote: 'Tell the rabble / My name is Cabell.' (2004, F Brett Cox, editor)" After various experiences as a journalist and as a clerk for a coal mining company he began writing fiction. His early works, which are sophisticated novels deriding conventional history, include Gallantry (1907), Chivalry (1909), and The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck (1915). Many of Cabell's most popular novels are set in the imaginary medieval kingdom of Poictesme; among these are The Cream of the Jest (1917), Jurgen (1919)—Cabell's most famous work because of its attempted suppression on charges of obscenity—and The Silver Stallion (1926). Cabell's novels are usually pointedly antirealistic, and many of them can be considered moral allegories. Although he was enormously popular in the 1920s, his highly artifical prose style and subject matter lost favor with critics and public alike by the 1930s. His nonfiction writing includes Beyond Life (1919), The St. Johns (with A. J. Hanna, 1943), and Let Me Lie (1947).
Members
Discussions
Notes and Translations on Chivalry? in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (September 2022)
New digital project explores the life and legacy of James Branch Cabell, namesake of VCU’s library in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (January 2022)
Cabell's original titles in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (September 2021)
Cabell reference in science fiction story in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (September 2021)
Gaiman's steal on Cabell in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (July 2021)
German ballad (1907) about a knight called Manuel in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (January 2021)
"The Vampire," a First Story by Cabell in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (December 2020)
Cabell's Heirs? in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (November 2020)
Faulkner and james Branch Cabell in William Faulkner and his Literary Kin (October 2020)
Happy 100th birthday Jurgen! in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (September 2019)
Beyond Life in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (January 2019)
Special Delivery (screening the mail) in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (November 2017)
Ecben and the Witch-Women (and a pendant) in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (October 2013)
Illustrated Cabell Bibliography in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (January 2013)
Dedicated to JBC in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (December 2012)
Cabell articles on offer in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (May 2011)
A new book called Jurgen in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (March 2011)
Musings on The Silver Stallion in The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c (July 2010)
Reviews
1 
Jon_Hansen | 4 other reviews | Nov 14, 2023 |
Jon_Hansen | 4 other reviews | Nov 14, 2023 | 
This book collects the prefaces to all of the books in Cabell's Storisende edition of his work. As such, I didn't think at first that it would be worth getting. But the Storisende edition itself has its prefaces printed in difficult-to-read italics -- and it's also difficult to find every last volume -- so I decided to try it. It provides a more or less coherent summary of what Cabell thought he was doing with each of his books. Or, at least, what Cabell says he was trying to do; he is nothing if not an unreliable narrator. Perhaps it's better to say that it works as a coherent plan of the Storisende edition and why he laid it out as he did. He also succumbed to the urge to re-revise, apparently, in that he added some material that had been printed elsewhere. If someone is going to read all of Cabell, it's a useful book.… (more)
1 rpuchalsky | Oct 10, 2022 |
rpuchalsky | Oct 10, 2022 | 
A one act play Cabell adapted from one of his short stories (Balthazar's Daughter), done for some local theatre. Apparently it was heavily rewritten with input from the actors and producer. I'm not sure which book the original story is collected in but i have read it and this is pretty similar to my recollection.
However there was an odd emphasis on the heroine being horrified by the fact the Duke was slightly dark skinned.. maybe i'm giving Cabell too much credit but i don't think that is in his solo version.
Still i wouldn't really recommend this even for the Cabell enthusiasts since its repeated elsewhere and in a purer Cabellian fashion.… (more)
However there was an odd emphasis on the heroine being horrified by the fact the Duke was slightly dark skinned.. maybe i'm giving Cabell too much credit but i don't think that is in his solo version.
Still i wouldn't really recommend this even for the Cabell enthusiasts since its repeated elsewhere and in a purer Cabellian fashion.… (more)
1 wreade1872 | 1 other review | Jul 25, 2022 |
wreade1872 | 1 other review | Jul 25, 2022 | 
"...where she would tantalize me nightly, from her balcony, after the example of the Veronese lady in Shakespeare's spirited tragedy, which she prodigiously admired.
As concerns myself, a reasonable liking for romance had been of late somewhat tempered by the inclemency of the weather and the obvious unfriendliness of the dog; but there is no resisting a lady's commands..."
Yet another in the long line of Cabell’s historical romance short story collections. Its all filigree and artificiality but completely self-aware both from the authorial point of view and that of its characters who are generally quite practical at heart regardless of their pretensions for high romance.
Each story is presented like a scene from a play to add to the idea of life as stage sort of thing. Unlike most of Cabell’s story collections which are spread throughout time this one is much more connected with each tale leading on from the one before.
So a side-character in one will be the main character in the next, or the villain in one might be the hero in the following.
Personally i prefer the more historically spread collections but this format does allow you to see a different perspective on some of the previous stories and characters.
I think its probably the nicest of Cabell’s works. Usually the ratio of sweet to bitter in Cabell’s books is about 50/50 or worse but this is more like 80/20.
Its very nicely written but its happily-ever-afterness did start to grate on me a bit, of course my favourite Cabell so far is Figures of Earth, probably his bitterest work :P .
After i finished the final proper chapter it was still going to be 4-stars but probably the Cabell work i would have least liked to reread.
However the afterpiece really brings everything together and actually makes me want to reread the whole thing again keeping in mind the effect of the whole rather than seeing it as a series of tales.
"...and my children will be reared on moral aphorisms and rational food, with me as a handy example of everything they should avoid. Deuce take it, Amalia," he added, "a father must in common decency furnish an example to his children!"… (more)
As concerns myself, a reasonable liking for romance had been of late somewhat tempered by the inclemency of the weather and the obvious unfriendliness of the dog; but there is no resisting a lady's commands..."
Yet another in the long line of Cabell’s historical romance short story collections. Its all filigree and artificiality but completely self-aware both from the authorial point of view and that of its characters who are generally quite practical at heart regardless of their pretensions for high romance.
Each story is presented like a scene from a play to add to the idea of life as stage sort of thing. Unlike most of Cabell’s story collections which are spread throughout time this one is much more connected with each tale leading on from the one before.
So a side-character in one will be the main character in the next, or the villain in one might be the hero in the following.
Personally i prefer the more historically spread collections but this format does allow you to see a different perspective on some of the previous stories and characters.
I think its probably the nicest of Cabell’s works. Usually the ratio of sweet to bitter in Cabell’s books is about 50/50 or worse but this is more like 80/20.
Its very nicely written but its happily-ever-afterness did start to grate on me a bit, of course my favourite Cabell so far is Figures of Earth, probably his bitterest work :P .
After i finished the final proper chapter it was still going to be 4-stars but probably the Cabell work i would have least liked to reread.
However the afterpiece really brings everything together and actually makes me want to reread the whole thing again keeping in mind the effect of the whole rather than seeing it as a series of tales.
"...and my children will be reared on moral aphorisms and rational food, with me as a handy example of everything they should avoid. Deuce take it, Amalia," he added, "a father must in common decency furnish an example to his children!"… (more)
1 wreade1872 | Jul 25, 2022 |
wreade1872 | Jul 25, 2022 | Lists
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- 233
- Also by
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- ISBNs
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"Would I deplore your death?" Orléans' head was now cocked until it lay almost on his left shoulder. "It is a fact of which I am not wholly persuaded."