The Cords of Vanity

The Cords of Vanity

By James Branch Cabell.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Epigraph
4. Dedication
5. An Introduction
6. Epigraph
7. The Prologue
   1. I: Writing
   2. II: Reading
   3. III: Arithmetic
8. Epigraph
9. The Cords of Vanity
   1. I: He Sits Out a Dance
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
      5. V
   2. II: He Loves Extensively
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
      5. V
   3. III: He Earns a Stickpin
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
      5. V
      6. VI
      7. VII
      8. VIII
      9. IX
   4. IV: He Talks with Charteris
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
   5. V: He Revisits Fairhaven and the Play
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
      5. V
      6. VI
      7. VII
   6. VI: He Chats Over a Hedge
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
   7. VII: He Goes Mad in a Garden
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
      5. V
      6. VI
      7. VII
   8. VIII: He Duels with a Stupid Woman
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
   9. IX: He Puts His Tongue in His Cheek
      1. I
      2. II
      3. III
      4. IV
      5. V
      6. VI
      7. VII
   10. X: He Samples New Emotions
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
       8. VIII
   11. XI: He Postures Among Chimney-Pots
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
   12. XII: He Faces Himself and Remembers
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
   13. XIII: He Baits Upon the Journey
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   14. XIV: He Participates in a Brave Jest
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
   15. XV: He Decides to Amuse Himself
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
   16. XVI: He Seeks for Copy
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   17. XVII: He Provides Copy
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
       8. VIII
       9. IX
   18. XVIII: He Spends an Afternoon in Arden
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
   19. XIX: He Plays the Improvident Fool
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
   20. XX: He Dines Out, Impeded by Superstitions
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   21. XXI: He Is Urged to Desert His Galley
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
       8. VIII
   22. XXII: He Cleans the Slate
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
   23. XXIII: He Reviles Destiny and Climbs a Wall
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   24. XXIV: He Reconciles Sentiment and Reason
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   25. XXV: He Advances in the Attack on Selwoode
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
   26. XXVI: He Assists in the Diversion of Birds
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   27. XXVII: He Calls, and Counsels, and Considers
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
       8. VIII
       9. IX
       10. X
       11. XI
   28. XXVIII: He Participates in Sundry Confidences
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
       5. V
       6. VI
       7. VII
   29. XXIX: He Allows the Merits of Imperfection
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
   30. XXX: He Gilds the Weathervane
       1. I
       2. II
       3. III
       4. IV
   31. The Epilogue
10. Colophon
11. Uncopyright

Imprint

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“Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity!⁠ ⁠… their root shall be as rottenness and their blossom shall go up as dust.”

To
Gabrielle Brooke Moncure

Plus sapit vulgus, quia tantum, quantum opus est, sapit.

An Introduction

By Wilson Follett

Mr. Cabell, in making ready this second or intended edition of The Cords of Vanity, performs an act of reclamation which is at the same time an act of fresh creation.

For the purely reclamatory aspect of what he has done, his reward (so far as that can consist in anything save the doing) must come from insignificantly few directions; so few indeed that he, with a wrily humorous exaggeration, affects to believe them singular. The author of this novel has been pleased to describe the author of this introduction as “the only known purchaser of the book” and, further, as “the other person to own a Cords of Vanity.” I could readily enough acquit myself, with good sound legal proofs, of any such singularity as stands charged in this soft impeachment⁠—and that without appeal to The Cleveland Plain Dealer of eleven years ago (“slushy and disgusting”), or to