Dave Langford writes: Cabell's bibliography is complicated, since he obsessively revised and reissued his work through many editions, eventually shoehorning the whole lot (up to 1930) into the "Biography of the Life of Manuel" -- which includes seemingly unrelated non-fantasies, nonfiction, verse and even genealogy. According to Cabell, all principal "Biography" characters are descended in one way or another from Dom Manuel, the antihero of Figures of Earth. The 18 volumes of the final "Storisende Edition", in Cabell's chosen order but with first publication dates, are:

    Biography of the Life of Manuel
  • Beyond Life (1919) -- essays in a semi-fantastic frame
  • Figures of Earth (1921) -- fantasy novel
  • The Silver Stallion (1926) -- linked fantasy stories
  • Domnei (1920, revised from The Soul of Melicent 1913) plus The Music from Behind the Moon (1926) -- near-fantasy historical novel plus fantasy novella
  • Chivalry (1909) -- historical stories
  • Jurgen (1919) -- fantasy novel
  • The Line of Love (1905) -- historical stories
  • The High Place (1923) -- fantasy novel
  • Gallantry (1907) -- historical stories
  • Something About Eve (1927) -- fantasy novel
  • The Certain Hour (1916) -- historical stories
  • The Cords of Vanity (1909) -- contemporary novel
  • From the Hidden Way (1916) plus The Jewel Merchants (1921) -- poetry and historical play
  • The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck (1915) -- contemporary novel
  • The Cords of Vanity (1909) -- contemporary novel
  • The Cream of the Jest (1917) plus The Lineage of Lichfield (1922) -- contemporary dream-fantasy novel and genealogy
  • Straws and Prayer-Books (1924) -- essays, but including two fantasy stories linked to The Silver Stallion
  • Townsend of Lichfield (1930) -- assorted oddments, including the fantasy novellas The White Robe (1928) and The Way of Ecben (1929), the fantasy satire Taboo (1921) and the verse Sonnets from Antan (1930)

Cabell also thriftily re-collected all his introductions to the Storisende Edition as Preface to the Past (1931), while The Witch-Woman (1948) repackages the Biography novellas The Music from Behind the Moon, The White Robe and The Way of Ecben.

    Later (non-Biography) fiction
  • Smirt (1934) -- dream fantasy ("The Nightmare Has Triplets" trilogy)
  • Smith (1935) -- dream fantasy ("The Nightmare Has Triplets" trilogy)
  • Smire (1937) -- dream fantasy ("The Nightmare Has Triplets" trilogy)
  • The King Was in His Counting House (1938) -- historical novel ("Heirs and Assigns" trilogy)
  • Hamlet Had an Uncle (1940) -- historical novel ("Heirs and Assigns" trilogy)
  • The First Gentleman of America (1942; UK title The First American Gentleman) -- historical novel ("Heirs and Assigns" trilogy)
  • There Were Two Pirates (1946) -- fantasy novel ("It Happened In Florida" trilogy -- whose supposed first book was a nonfiction collaboration)
  • The Devil's Own Dear Son (1949) -- fantasy novel ("It Happened In Florida" trilogy)
  • The Nightmare Has Triplets (1972) -- posthumous omnibus of trilogy as above

Advice to the curious: if you don't know Cabell at all. try Jurgen and/or The Silver Stallion before anything else. Should these leave you wanting more ... Figures of Earth, The Cream of the Jest and The High Place. Then you're on your own, though my superbly brilliant entry in the Encyclopedia of Fantasy may offer a few hints.

Dave Langford