The Certain Hour (Dizain des Poetes).

New York, NY Robert M. McBride & Company, 1916. Hardcover FirstEdition (1916). Second State. FirstEdition (1916). Second State, showing the gilt "Kalki" horse logo embossed on lower right quadrant of the front panel. The First State was published in 1916; but not all sheets from that printing were bound up, so after "Jurgen" became famous from its 1920 banning, McBride bound up leftover 1916 sheets with the Kalki logo they were then using making this the Second State. Good+: shows light wear to the extremities; mild rubbing to the panels; dust darkening to the fore-edge and bottom edge and the top edge is deeply dust-darkened; former owner's gift inscription at the front free endpaper from "Bob" to Katherine B. Huling, relative of a friend of Cabell's, Caroline Augusta Alden Huling (1856 – 1941), who was an American journalist, philanthropist, editor, publisher and reformer; the backstrip is heavily dusted to the point that the titles thereon a difficult to decipher. The binding leans ever so slightly, but remains secure; the text clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia in the text. A solid reading copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing mild wear and numerous cosmetic flaws. Sturdy, presentable. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (7.85 x 5.3 x 0.85 inches). 253 pages. Language: English. Weight: 14 ounces. Reprint Edition (1916). First published in 1909. Hardback: Lacks DJ. James Branch Cabell (1879 –1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his works were most popular. For Cabell, veracity was "the one unpardonable sin, not merely against art, but against human welfare." Cabell's works are ironic and satirical. H. L. Mencken characterized him as "really the most acidulous of all the anti-romantics. His gaudy heroes ... chase dragons precisely as stockbrockers play golf."