James Cabell: 56 books

The Jewel Merchants A Comedy in One Act by the American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres, James Branch Cabell.

American writer James Branch Cabell carved out a literary niche of his own with a body of work that combines fantasy, humor, and allegory. The novel Gallantry succeeds marvelously on all three levels. In terms of plot, it's a rollicking action-adventure quest story that fans of fiction set in the medieval...

Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice is a 1919 fantasy book by James Branch Cabell - the eighth among some fifty-two books written by this author - which gained fame (or notoriety, in the view of some) shortly after its publication. The eponymous hero, who considers himself a "monstrous clever fellow",...

Though he later gained widespread acclaim as a pioneering writer of fantasy fiction, James Branch Cabell's early novels are largely realistic and dryly humorous in tone. The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck, which unfolds in early-twentieth-century Virginia, is a comedy of manners set among the upper echelons of Richmond high society.

Published in 1921, this novel may be considered the first in the Poictesme series, for it is here that Cabell introduces his great hero, or anti-hero, Manuel the Redeemer. A rogue who begins in the mud but through sharp dealings rises to become the wealthy and illustrious Count of Poictesme, Manuel’s journey makes him a legend.

This 1916 collection of ten short stories based on the works of ten imaginary poets of different epochs contains "Balthazar's Daughter," which Cabell later turned into his only published play, The Jewel Merchants.  The collection also features two poems and a lengthy introduction. 

PRISCILLA BRADLEY CABELL “Nightly I mark and praise, or great or small, Such stars as proudly struggle one by one To heaven’s highest place, as Procyon, Antares, Naoes, Tejat and Nibal Attain supremacy, and proudly fall, Still glorious, and glitter, and are gone So very soon;—whilst steadfast and...

Published in 1909, this collection of ten short stories is set in France of the Middle Ages and ostensibly comes from the pen of Nicolas de Caen, secretary to the Duke of Burgundy.  Though Cabell later shoehorned this volume into his Poictesme fantasy series, the stories are really historical romances.

This short book, published in 1921, is Cabell's response to the publicity that attended the publication of his novel Jurgen, the subject of a notorious obscenity trial.  Here, in his inimitable ironic style, he thanks those who sought to persecute him and, in doing so, launched his career to undreamed-of heights.

Published in 1919, and the subject of a notorious obscenity trial, Jurgen is the second in Cabell's Poictesme series, and is certainly the author's most famous novel.  Jurgen, an old pawnbroker magically granted a second youth, embarks through time and space on a series of sexual conquests while ostensibly searching for his missing wife. A tale of the tragedy of human nature.

This 1915 novel is set in Virginia in the waning years of the nineteenth century.  A marriage between an aristocratic Southern gentleman and the spoiled daughter of a businessman affords Cabell the opportunity, with lapidary grace and gently devastating irony, of skewering the chivalric illusions of the Old South.

This fantastic work of fiction is a conversation between an author named John Chateris, and a youthful editor. The two discuss books and editions, which are not yet written, in the setting of a library – a figurative story which comments on the publishing industry, done in a masterful way.