''The Book of Wonder'' is the seventh book and fifth original short story collection of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
writer
Lord Dunsany
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, M ...
, considered a major influence on the work of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
,
H. P. Lovecraft,
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
, and others. It was first published in hardcover by
William Heinemann
William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London.
Early life
On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...
in November, 1912, and has been reprinted a number of times since. A 1918 edition from the
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
was actually a combined edition with ''
Time and the Gods
''Time and the Gods'' is the second book by Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others.
The book was first published in hardcover by William ...
''.
The book collects fourteen fantasy short stories by the author.
Lord Dunsany employed the talents of
Sidney Sime
Sidney Herbert Sime (;1865 – 22 May 1941) — he usually signed his works as S. H. Sime — was an early 20th century English artist, mostly remembered for his fantastic and satirical artwork, especially his story illustrations for Irish f ...
to illustrate his fantasy short story collections, but ''The Book of Wonder'' is unique in that Sydney Sime drew the illustrations first, and Lord Dunsany wrote the tales to incorporate them:
'I found Mr Sime one day, in his strange house at Worplesdon, complaining that editors did not offer him very suitable subjects for illustration; so I said: "Why not do any pictures you like, and I will write stories explaining them, which may add a little to their mystery?"'
Of the 14 tales, only the last two ("Chu-Bu and Sheemish" and "The Wonderful Window") were not derived from a Sime drawing.
[ Gardner, Martin (Autumn 1949), "Sidney Sime of Worplesdon", '']The Arkham Sampler
''The Arkham Sampler'' was an American fantasy and horror fiction magazine first published in Winter 1948. The headquarters was in Sauk City, Wisconsin. The magazine, edited by August Derleth, was the first of two magazines published by Arkham H ...
'' (This article was reprinted in Gardner's 1983 book ''Order and Surprise''; Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, pp 47-56, with an updated "Postscript".)
The short story "How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art upon the Gnoles" is likely the origin of the term ''
gnoll'', used in a number of later works, notably the
Dungeons and Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). ...
gaming franchise, to describe a humanoid fantasy race.
Contents
* "Preface"
* "The Bride of the Man-Horse"
* "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom that Befell Him"
* "The House of the Sphinx"
* "The Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men"
* "The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolator"
* "The Loot of Bombasharna"
* "Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance"
* "The Quest of the Queen's Tears"
* "
The Hoard of the Gibbelins
"The Hoard of the Gibbelins" is a fantasy short story by Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany. It was first published in ''The Sketch'' in London and in '' The Book of Wonder'' in 1912. It was also reprinted in the anthology '' The Spell of Seven'' ...
"
* "How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art upon the Gnoles"
* "How One Came, as Was Foretold, to the City of Never"
* "The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap"
* "
Chu-Bu and Sheemish
Chu-Bu and Sheemish are characters in a short story of the same name by Lord Dunsany. The tale was first published in ''The Book of Wonder'' (1912).
Plot summary
An unnamed narrator tells the following story: Chu-Bu is the accustomed resident in ...
"
* "The Wonderful Window"
* "Epilogue"
External links
*
*
*
References
*
1912 short story collections
Fantasy short story collections
Short story collections by Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany
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