#vcu libraries
Opening Day!
Players from the 1940 Intercity Semi-Pro League: Rufus Mitchell, RHP for Master Sales, Linwood “Bubber” Donner, 3rd base for Coca Cola, Zeb Finlayson, LHP for DuPont, and Dutch Bottoms, umpire.
Photographed in Richmond, Va. Images from the Hank Wolfe papers, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library.
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His fans included Ellen Glasgow, Robert E. Howard, Poul Anderson, H. L. Mencken and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – and yet, you’ve probably never heard of him.
“Everything in life is miraculous. It rests within the power of each of us to awaken from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness.”
A little something for everyone in James Branch Cabell’s literary life and legacy
[Image Description: Linocut portrait of Cabell with coat of arms. “Impavide” (fearless)]
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Wood Engraving Wednesday
JOHN BUCKLAND WRIGHT
This week we present original wood engravings by New Zealander/English painter and printmaker John Buckland Wright for American writer James Branch Cabell’s comic fantasy novel Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice. The novel was first published in 1919 by Robert M. McBride and immediately became the subject of an ultimately unsuccessful, 2-year obscenity case, less for its sexual portrayals than for its scathing mockery of Anglo-American societal mores. Our Wright-illustrated edition was published in 1949 by Christopher Sandford at his Golden Cockerel Press (GCP) in and edition of 500 copies, with 16 original wood engravings by Wright.
A long-standing and favorite illustrator for GCP productions from the 1930s until his death in 1954, Wright favored Cabell’s novel and believed his illustrated edition would sell well for GCP. Unfortunately, by this time Jurgen’s popularity had waned, and the edition did not sell as well as Wright had anticipated. Nevertheless, Wright’s engravings, which seem more solemn than comic, are quite accomplished with an assured sense of line and composition. Our copy of this book is yet another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.
View a post on another John Buckland Wright-illustrated GCP edition.
View more posts on Golden Cockerel Press editions.
Love seeing these illustrations! More about James Branch Cabell and Jurgen at VCU Libraries’ online exhibit: http://bit.ly/AboutCabell
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From the Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library.
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Who’s a good boi?
Sinbad, of course! The mischievous pup brought to life by Frances Edwina Dumm, America’s first full-time female editorial cartoonist.
FromSpecial Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
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A tiny gem for World Book Day.
Measuring just 8 cm (3 inches) this tiny prayer book is bound in tortoise shell. The 18th-century Seder Tefilah–the order of prayer for divine service–was a giftto VCU’s Cabell Library from Ballad Cabell, son of author, James Branch Cabell.
Held in Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University
To see more beautiful and interesting early modern books, visit our Flickrsite.
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Emily loved books.
J.J. Lankes bookplate, 1925 from the Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library. A Lankes’ sketch for this bookplate may be found online.
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Dreaming of travel…
Il giardino e la pergola nel paesaggio di Capri by Edwin Cerio. Edwin Cerio (1875–1960) was a prominent Italian writer, engineer, architect, historian, and botanist. Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library.
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They’ve got the urge for going
Nineteenth-century trade card from the Charles E. Brownell Collection of Architectural and Decorative Arts Ephemera, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library.
[Image Description: Winter scene of 3 geese in melting snow as other geese fly overhead.]
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