The Letters of James Branch Cabell

 

The Letters of James Branch Cabell, Edited by Edward Wagenknecht (1975)

Published by the University of Oklahoma Press. The copy I have lacks this cover, but the picture is included as a frontispiece inside. Cabell was undergoing a bit of a renaissance in the Seventies, which I can't help but connect to the reprinting of several of his more fantastic 'romances' in the Ballantine Books classic fantasy series. There are letters from 1915 until his death in 1958; they are arranged, not in chronological order, but as to whom they were sent. Cabell kept no copies of his letters; these are all collected from his correspondents. There are three sections of photos, including Cabell, his haunts, and his family and friends. 

As for the body of the book itself ... well, it is a university press production, and from the Seventies at that. The cover is sort of a plastic pressboard, glossy and brown, of a texture that will be quite familiar to those of a certain age who purchased school almanacs or cheap religious literature from the time. It has library stamps declaring it was withdrawn from the "Zug Memorial Library/Elizabethtown College/Elizabethtown, Penna".  This amuses me, because 'Zug' is not only the name of a town and canton in Switzerland, it is also "a Lovecraftian-like monster from the fictional universe of Marvel by Marvel Comics." -H. P. Lovecraft Wiki.

When I unwrapped it I was dismayed to find that the spine had detached along one side. A quick and careful patch with transparent packing tape, however, soon rendered it fit for handling again. I haven't read any in it yet; it fact, I am in a delightful dilemma that has seldom if ever happened to me: I have almost too much to read at the moment!