Books Update: Re-Working our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Category: The Fantasy of James Branch Cabell
*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re continuing to introduce the new layout for our books categories, with an image for each book. This week, we return to our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category for the singular works of the American fantasist James Branch Cabell. Cabell, active from 1904 until his death in 1958 wrote aristocratic, whimsical, profane fantasies perfectly suited to the mood of the 1920s; his most famous book Jurgen was the subject of a famous obscenity trial. Cabell’s inventive witticisms, sardonic irreverence and habit of the gently bawdy are delivered with panache. A very prolific author, most of his works are devoted to the saga of the mythic land of Poictesme and its lineage; each volume is complete in itself, yet has common characters and themes down the ages. His work fell out of fashion and out of print with the second World War, but was revived by Pan Ballantine in their Adult Fantasy series in the 1970s and other publishers, and it is these volumes that form the basis of our stock.
PICTURED: ALL BY JAMES BRANCH CABELL
THE CREAM OF THE JEST Pan Ballantine 1972 1st UK PB GD £3
FIGURES OF EARTH Tandem 1971 UK PB VG £6
THE HIGH PLACE Del Rey 1979 2nd US PB VG £5
JURGEN Tandem 1971 UK PB VG £6 SOLD
THE SILVER STALLION Tandem 1971 UK PB VG £6