Oh, My Lord! A Gathering of Dunsany

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, (24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist (a real lord by the way, a baron - with a castle!). He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consisted of hundreds of short stories, plays, novels, and essays; further works were published posthumously.

Though perhaps most famous as a playwright during his life (he knew W. B. Yeats and was a major donor to the Abbey Theatre and moved in Irish literary circles; besides his own efforts he co-wrote a play with Padraic Colum - of whom see elsewhere in this blog) he is best known for a relatively small body of fantasy stories. Few, perhaps, but deeply foundational to the modern Fantasy genre.  Writers from Lovecraft to Tolkien to LeGuin to Robert E. Howard to Borges to Neil Gaiman and a host of others besides have all cited him as an influence and a favorite author. He continues as an almost invisible (but ubiquitous) presence in the genre.

Among his best-known short story characters was Joseph Jorkens, an obese, middle-aged raconteur who frequented the fictional Billiards Club in London and would tell fantastic stories if anyone bought him a large whiskey and soda. From his tales, it was clear that Jorkens had travelled to all seven continents, was extremely resourceful and well-versed in world cultures, but always came up short on becoming rich and famous. The Jorkens books, which sold well, were among the first of a type that would become popular in fantasy and science fiction writing: highly improbable "club tales" told at a gentleman's club or bar. (I remember reading a Jorkens tale as far back as middle school.)

-extracted from Wikipedia.

Because of their different formats and the different times that I bought them, my Dunsany books are scattered throughout the blog. I bring their images together here for the first time.

Into the Archives: Oh, the Dunsanity!

 

Don Rodriguez: The Chronicles of Shadow Valley, (1922; this edition May 1971)

“A coming-of-age story set in the mythical "golden age" of Spain. The titular character is excluded from the inheritance of the family castle on the grounds that given his expertise with sword and mandolin he should be able to win his own estate and bride. Setting out to achieve his place in the world, Rodriguez quickly acquires a Sancho Panza-like servant, Morano, and goes on to experience a series of extraordinary adventures that lead him into the heart of fantasy in the mythopoeic Shadow Valley.” – Wikipedia.

Over the Hills and Far Away is a collection of fantasy short stories by Lord Dunsany, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixty-fifth volume of its celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in April 1974. It was the series' sixth Dunsany volume, and the third collection of his shorter fantasies assembled by Carter.

The book collects a poem, two plays and thirty-four short pieces by the author, including several of his Jorkens stories, with an introduction by Lin Carter. A poem by H. P. Lovecraft, in tribute to Dunsany, is also included. - Wikipedia. Cover art by Gervasio Gallardo.

I recently discovered another quote from the legendary lost work of T. M. Junge, Under the Mountain. It goes, "Somehow, when a new diamond plinks down on your dusty old hoard of jewels, all the gems seem to renew themselves in relation to the clear sparkle, and you can see them again as new, redefined as they are by this one small additional drop of light.” I find it strangely applicable to these two new "old" books, as they shoulder their way onto my shelves and become new acquisitions for my own hoard.

They are, of course, volumes from the fabled run of classic Adult Fantasies edited by Lin Carter for Ballantine Books. I had read Don Rodriquez on Kindle, and so knew its quality, desiring a more permanent presence for it in my library (the vintage of its publishing adding to its allure). The book, besides its age, is almost pristine. Over the Hills and Far Away, on the other hand, is an anthology produced exclusively for the series and shows obvious but unobtrusive signs of wear. I would imagine that Don Rodriguez, being more of a Romance in the more technical sense, was less appealing to the target audience in the 70's than the more overt Fantasy of the short story collection.

In an odd sense, we are kindred productions of the same time, the iterations of these books and I, though our roots go farther back. “This ship, the Moonshadow Harp and myself, we are all the same. We are all from the old world.” – Ishmari, Dragon Quest 8. Who knows what strange paths they have traveled before finally washing up on my shore? 

I now have all six Dunsany books published by Ballantine/Del Rey, so that's a thing. And in my 60th year, I finally discover that "Dunsany" is pronounced "dun-SANE-ee." This will take some getting used to. Another classic Fantasy author with a contra-intuitively pronounced name.

Into the Archive: Two Past Masters

 

Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories, by M. R. James

The first volume of James’ collected ghost stories, presented by Penguin Classics, and annotated by the noted scholar of weird literature, S. T. Joshi. I find James to be one of the finest writers of ghostly tales, or at least the one that most closely appeals to my sensibilities. This volume contains rarities not included in other collections, and Joshi’s notes look to illuminate phrases and references that may have grown obscure in time, or perhaps too subtle for a casual reader. I suppose that having these books will mean that I can pass on my lesser Collected James. Annotations! 

“Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories contains the entire first two volumes of James’s ghost stories, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. These volumes are both the culmination of the nineteenth-century ghost story tradition and the inspiration for much of the best twentieth-century work in this genre. Included in this collection are such landmark tales as “Count Magnus,” set in the wilds of Sweden; “Number 13,” a distinctive tale about a haunted hotel room; “Casting the Runes,” a richly complex tale of sorcery that served as the basis for the classic horror film Curse of the Demon; and “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad,” one of the most frightening tales in literature. The appendix includes several rare texts, including “A Night in King’s College Chapel,” James’s first known ghost story.” – Amazon.

I have to say that getting this volume has cost me much worry, more so than most books. After I ordered it back on the last day of July, I waited weeks until I was informed that it had been lost in the mail somehow and I could have my money refunded. Afterwards, I ordered another copy from another company (for much cheaper, I might add) and now have had a quite prompt delivery. It is well, because I felt I could not really read the second volume (The Haunted Dolls’ House and Other Ghost Stories) until I had read Volume I, although in this case (they are anthologies and not otherwise connected save by author) it probably would not have made much of a difference.

And for some reason I ordered another copy of Lord Dunsany’s The Charwoman’s Shadow, having gotten the impression that I had somehow sold it, even though I recorded it in my Biographical Inventory of Books on August 8^th of 2020 (which I was surprised anyhow to learn was almost exactly three years ago now already – Time, you continue to baffle me). I am ready to try it again at last, having read Dunsany’s Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley on Kindle. The Charwoman’s Shadow is sort of a soft sequel, apparently. I remember trying to read it over at Aunt Wimpy’s and failing spectacularly; I wasn’t quite ready for this brand of literary fantasy. I believe I misplaced my old copy by not putting it with my other Dunsany paperbacks. Now I suppose I will have to seriously consider acquiring Don Rodriguez in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition, just to appease my compulsory obsessiveness. 

 

The Past Revisited: Histories, Old Books, and Sequels

 

The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50^th Anniversary Pictorial History, by John Fricke, Jay Scarfone, and William Stillman. Introduction by Jack Haley, Jr.

“A commemorative volume offers the definitive pictorial history of one of the most popular movies of all time.” - Amazon. A big book, full of photos, art, toys, masks, commemorative items, in fact anything connected to the 1939 MGM movie. The history of the book, the making of the movie, its afterlife at matinees and on TV, and its cultural impact.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Pictorial History. Film. Hardback.

Advanced D&D Monster Manuel (4^th Edition), by Gary Gygax.

“An Illustrated Compendium of Monsters: Aerial Servant to Zombie.” Originally John’s and possibly still rightly so. I have it for the bestiary of it all. Despite the best efforts of friends and family to get me (a fantasy nut) to play D&D, I’ve never really gotten into it.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Bestiary. Gaming. Hardback.

Ghost Story, by Peter Straub.

The scariest novel I have ever read. I remember the first time I read it I was sleeping in the Green Room at Nanny’s, with its floating curtains and wall-size windows into the atrium and the night. I tried following Straub for a few years, but he never equaled this homage to the horror of Henry James and “The Turn of the Screw” and the New England tradition. “Ghost Story is a horror novel by American writer Peter Straub. It was published on January 1, 1979 by Coward, McCann and Geoghegan. The book was adapted into a film by the same name in 1981, minus the novel's fifth protagonist character, Lewis Benedikt. The novel was a watershed in Straub's career. Though his earlier books had achieved a limited amount of critical and commercial success, Ghost Story became a national bestseller and cemented the author's reputation.” – Wikipedia.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Horror. Novel. Hardback.

The Dracula Book of Great Vampire Stories, Edited with an Introduction by Leslie Shepard.

An anthology of many great early vampire tales, by Stoker, Le Fanu, Maupassant, Crawford, Benson, Blackwood, and others. We used to have a paperback of this that John and I contended over with for a while, but when I got this Hardback I conceded the other.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Anthology. Vampires. Hardback.

Escape from Hell, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

A sequel to Niven’s “Inferno”. “The novel continues the story of deceased science fiction writer Allen Carpenter in his quest to help other damned souls in Hell. Like the first book, “Escape from Hell” extensively references Dante's Inferno. Jerry Pournelle, one of the book's co-authors, described the book as "Dante meets Vatican II." Following events in the first novel, in which Carpenter learned that it is possible to leave Hell, Carpenter wants to help others in the way his benefactor helped him. Carpenter meets and travels through all the circles of the Hell described by Dante. He is accompanied in his travels by Sylvia Plath (whom he rescues from the Wood of the Suicides by burning her tree, causing her physical body to reform itself), attempting to understand the purpose of Hell and free many of the damned. Carpenter discovers that, apparently because he returned to Hell of his own free will to help others, he now possesses powers and abilities such as his mentor, Benito, also displayed. In the end, and partly as the consequence of some unusual changes to Hell itself, Carpenter not so much escapes as that he is shown the door for being a troublemaker.” – Wikipedia.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Bangsian Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

The Book of Sorrows, by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Sequel to “The Book of the Dun Cow”. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe it was the weary setting back to square one, after the apocalyptic ending of the first book. I don’t know. Maybe the time wasn’t right: too late, or too soon. Maybe someday I’ll find my way in. There is another in the series, “The Third Book of the Dun Cow: Peace at Last” which I’ve never seen.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Beast Fable. Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

Urshurak, by The Brothers Hildebrandt and Jerry Nichols.

When this came out in 1979, I wanted to like it. I liked fantasy. I liked the Hildebrandts. The pictures are great. The concept is alright, but the execution … their story-telling talent is as illustrators, and Nichols is not a good writer. I can’t look at this book without thinking of carrying it in Mrs. Hardcastle’s class and trying to show it off, while admitting that the writing was sub-par.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff.

“A  1970 book by Helene Hanff, later made into a stage play, television play, and film, about the twenty-year correspondence between the author and Frank Doel, chief buyer of Marks & Co antiquarian booksellers, located at the eponymous address in London, England. Hanff was in search of obscure classics and British literature titles that she had been unable to find in New York City when she noticed an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature. She first contacted the shop in 1949 and it fell to Doel to fulfil her requests. In time, a long-distance friendship developed between the two and between Hanff and other staff members, as well, with an exchange of Christmas packages, birthday gifts and food parcels to help with the post-World War II food shortages in Britain. Their letters included discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the coronation of Elizabeth II. Hanff postponed visiting her English friends until too late; Doel died in December 1968 from peritonitis from a burst appendix, and the bookshop eventually closed in December 1970. Hanff did finally visit Charing Cross Road and the empty shop in the summer of 1971.” Loved the movie, so got the book, and it is good as well. A Penguin.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Epistolary Novel. Softcover.

The Dwarf, by Par Lagerkvist.

Bought this book years ago at Yesterday’s Warehouse. “The dwarf is the narrator, obviously obsessed with writing down his experiences in a form of diary. Everything in the novel is described from his viewpoint, mostly in retrospect, ranging from a few hours or minutes to several weeks or months after the actual events. The dwarf is a profound misanthrope and generally embodies all things evil. He hates almost every person at the court except for the prince (who is the ruler of the city-state, rather king than prince), or rather aspects of him. He loves war, brutality and fixed positions. While almost all other characters of the novel develop during the chain of events, the dwarf does not change. He is still exactly the same character from the first to the last page. He is deeply religious, but his take on Christianity includes the belief in a non-forgiving God. He is impressed with Bernardo's science but soon repelled by its relentless search for truth. When the dwarf is ordered to assassinate a number of enemies of the prince using poisoned wine, he takes this opportunity to assassinate one of the prince's rivals, simply because the dwarf dislikes the rival and the rival is having an affair with the prince's wife. The novel ends with the dwarf being strapped in chains at the bottom of the royal castle, never to be released again. He is seemingly convicted for flogging the prince's wife to death in anger over her sins. However he takes this sentence lightly, since, as he says, "soon the prince will need his dwarf again." – Wikipedia.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Novel. Softcover.

Kingdoms of Elfin, by Sylvia Townsend Warner.

This book came out when I was in high school. It has one of those papery covers that is prone to disintegration, and there are specks on this forty-year-old volume that suggests the bugs might have been nibbling on it. “Elfindom is an aristocratic society, jealous of its privileges. The ruling classes engage in such pursuits as patronizing the arts or hunting with the Royal Pack of Werewolves, while the lower orders take pleasure in conducting brutal raiding parties into the world to torment mortals. The Kingdoms of Elfin are more diverse and widely scattered than is often thought; from the Welsh Elfins who, though constitutionally incapable of faith, remove mountains, and the elegant and witty French Court of Brocéliande where castration almost becomes a vogue, to the Kingdom of Zuy in the Low Countries, trafficking suppositories and religious pictures. Sylvia Townsend Warner's richly exuberant imagination combined with the calm precision of her language conjures up a sublunary realm that is entirely convincing.” – Goodreads. Her last book; she died the next year.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Short Stories. Fantasy. Softcover.

Tales from Watership Down, by Richard Adams.

Short stories that return to the world of Watership Down. Many old characters are revisited in new tales. I don’t know if it’s just my weary old brain, but I can’t get into a lot of these long-delayed returns; just can’t raise the enthusiasm. Yet, they are related to the old classics.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Short Stories. Beast Fable. Hardback.

Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

“Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. According to Orwell, the fable reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union.” – Wikipedia. There has been an animated movie, and a live action TV version, and I was even in a stage version in high school. [Not my cover, but of the vintage of this copy, which has a plain green cover with reddish letters.]

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Allegory/Satire. Novel. Hardback.

1975 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, by The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.

They can try to re-write their history as much as they like, but I got the evidence! The year of (one of) their grand failures of the prophesied end. Actually has Mike’s and my “Speech Counsel” forms from the Theocratic Ministry School.

Ranking: Grim Reminder.

File Code: The Bulliest of Bull Bleep.

Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Marie Hugo.

Number 12 in The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. The longer version. I bought this at one of the last book sales of the old Seguin Public Library. It reminds me of the shorter, older, much battered version we’ve had for years, from which I read a passage in David Fleming’s class for a recitation (trying to be a smarty). We read that old book until the cloth cover was loose. I always identified both with Quasimodo and the alchemical, love-torn Claude Frollo.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Historical Novel. Hardback.

The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

Bought at Yesterday’s Warehouse. “The Devil's Dictionary is a satirical dictionary written by American Civil War soldier, journalist, and writer Ambrose Bierce consisting of common words followed by humorous and satirical definitions. The lexicon was written over three decades as a series of installments for magazines and newspapers. Bierce's witty definitions were imitated and plagiarized for years before he gathered them into books, first as The Cynic's Word Book in 1906 and then in a more complete version as The Devil's Dictionary in 1911.” – Wikipedia. Cover shows slight damage.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Humor. Satire. Hardback.

Fifty-One Tales by Lord Dunsany.

“Fifty-One Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Irish writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others.” -Wikipedia. It was published in 1915; my copy is from 1917.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Short Stories. Hardback.

Poems Bewitched and Haunted, Selected and Edited by John Hollander.

Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets. Poems of witches, ghosts, haunted houses, and magic, perfect for Halloween and appropriately decorated with jack o’ lanterns on the cover. A nice little browser.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Poetry. Anthology. Supernatural. Hardback.

A Severe Mercy, and Under the Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken.

The first volume tells about Vanauken’s marriage with his wife Davy, how they set up their deep romantic love as a ‘shining barrier’ against the world. Then they found their developing Christian faith an invasion into what was becoming a selfish, enclosed world of their own, beautiful as it was. They had begun a correspondence with C. S. Lewis as they became Christians; the book contains ‘18 previously unpublished letters’ from him. The ‘severe mercy’ is the illness and death of Davy, removed before their love can become an idol between them and God. Their love then remains constant and true within the love of God, until they be reunited again. The second volume is about Vanauken working out his faith in a post-Davy, post-Lewis world, and “how he lost sight of his faith, became involved in the peace and civil rights movements, and gradually rediscovered his Christian beliefs” (- Amazon), eventually becoming a Catholic. The book also discusses his opinions on several social matters, including feminism as it was developing from a social justice into an angry and illogical political tool.

Ranking: Keepers.

File Code: Religion. Autobiography. Hardbacks.

Fantasies, and the Fantastical Fantasists Who Fantasize About Them

The King of Elfland’s Daughter, by Lord Dunsany.

A new, upgraded copy, with an Introduction by Neil Gaiman (his “Stardust” was very influenced this book). Otherwise, see the entry under the paperback.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

The Circus of Dr. Lao, by Charles G. Finney

“The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao” was one of my favorite movies of a kid, and its message about the wonder of life and how it challenges the drab outlook on the world. I read the book in the college library, and then spent years looking for a copy (no one who has one parts with it, apparently), then finally found one. Illustrations by Boris Artzybaheff. Part of that 30’s social satire trend (like Cabell or Thorne Smith) that was knocked out for a while by WWII, when the unexciting, commonplace life of the small town didn’t seem to be such a given anymore. That it was now threatened revealed a quality of romance and precious fragility that it always has but needs dark shadows – or in time of peace, fantasy – to bring out. The question remains, however: was it a Russian or a bear?

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Satire. Softcover.

The Complete Pegana, by Lord Dunsany. Edited and Introduced by S. T. Joshi.

A part of the reprint publishing by Chaosium, a game producer with a Cthulhu product, of work connected to Lovecraft. It gathers all the Pegana stories into one volume. S. T. Joshi is the most recent go-to scholar on Lovecraft.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Anthology. Softcover.

Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy, by L. Sprague de Camp.

I first read this book in the college library, back when I wasn’t very aware of de Camp or Arkham House, which published it. For a while de Camp was a big honcho in what was then mostly termed “sword and sorcery”; he wrote dozens of books and was a wheel in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Now most of his work is as dust. Still, this book is a good look at the lives and works of the major writers of Fantasy as of 1976, with illustrations and pictures of the authors seldom seen at that time. A “manly man” of scientific bent, de Camp often seems judgmental about problems he didn’t have or opinions he could not share. Just look at HIS picture on the jacket, and if you have lived in the 70’s you can read only too well his type. I am proud to own at least this late product of the fabled Arkham House press.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Literary History. Hardback.

Irish Earth Folk, by Diarmuid Mac Manus.

Illustrated with line drawings and with some photos. “In Memory of My Loved and Revered Friend, the late WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.” Fairy lore, with, as you can imagine, a bit of the Celtic Twilight and Spiritualism sprinkled in. I used to read this book at the public library at least once a summer as a kid. “Fairies are real, they’re not all safe and twinkly, and here’s proof.” Of a piece with my interest in UFOs or Bigfoot or other strange phenomena. So happy to find a copy since the library has retired theirs.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Legend. Occult. Hardback.

A Family Book of Nursery Rhymes, Edited by Iona and Peter Opie. Illustrations by Pauline Baynes.

Got for the Baynes illustrations; that it was put together and has scholarly notes by the famous authorities on children’s literature is cake.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Nursery Rhymes. Hardback.

Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction, by Tom Raabe.

A hilarious examination of the bibliophile’s dilemma, his compulsive nature, and famous book-collectors through history. I was certainly once caught in the rage of that book-lust, and while I think I can say I have overcome it to a certain degree, I still show pronounced traces of the disease (as this Inventory itself goes to prove). Some indifferent illustrations.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Wry Examination. Softcover.

Penguin Island, by Anatole France. Illustrated by Frank C. Pape.

Bought solely for the Pape illustrations, but I must admit that I found a spot of political satire here and there that was very droll. After his work for Cabell, Pape had a good run of illustrating famous “scurrilous” old classics that wouldn’t move a pulse these days, and France’s books were among them. The particular shade of purple of the cover leads me to think this was reprinted in the 70’s, and its nearly pristine condition that it wasn’t read very often.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Satire. Fantasy. Softcover.

Wizardry and Wild Romance: A Study of Epic Fantasy, by Michael Moorcock.

Not so much a study as a collection of essays and articles. Moorcock is that annoying and querulous “expert” in your field whose enormous knowledge seems to be only matched by his completely perverse misunderstanding of it. Not a man for delicate shades or noble aspirations, you get the feeling that he wonders why he is not worshipped quite as much as Tolkien and that the only answer to that is that most people are dolts. Moorcock would be in the ash-heap with other “sword-and-sorcery” writers if Tolkien had not elevated the field, and his contrarian opinions (which have the hardihood to disagree with mine) sometimes appear to be expressed only to stir up controversy and thereby an illusion of relevance for his own work. Still, he’s discussing Fantasy, gosh darn it, is a fan of the genre, and he gives me something to sharpen my own rhetoric and opinions on.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Fantasy. Softcover.

Apostle of Letters: The Life and Works of Lin Carter, Edited by Stephen J. Servello

Probably the closest we’ll get to a biography of Lin Carter. “Lin Carter played a major role in the introduction of Fantasy into popular culture, both as author and as editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series … undeniability an important figure in the history in the 20^th Century fantasy.” – from the back of the book. Sad to hear about the illness and poverty that dogged his final years after all his work. Essays and articles.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Biography. Softcover.

The Pyrates, by George MacDonald Fraser.

“Written in an arch, ironic style and containing a great deal of deliberate anachronism, it traces the adventures of a classic hero (Captain Benjamin Avery, RN, very loosely based on Henry Avery), multiple damsels in distress, and the six captains who lead the infamous Coast Brotherhood (Calico Jack Rackham, Black Bilbo, Firebeard, Happy Dan Pew, Akbar the Terrible and Sheba the She-Wolf). It also concerns the charismatic anti-hero, Colonel Thomas Blood (cashiered), a rakish dastard who is loosely modeled on the historical figure, Thomas Blood. All of the above face off against the malevolently hilarious Spanish viceroy of Cartagena, Don Lardo.” – Wikipedia. Fraser wrote the scripts for the entertaining Musketeer movies of my youth, and this tribute to the pirate film is like them, both heroic and comedic. I had a softcover, which I gave to Kenny. I liked that other cover better.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Adventure. Novel. Hardback.

The Shadow-Walkers: Jacob Grimm’s Mythology of the Monstrous, Edited by Tom Shippey.

“Elves and dwarves, trolls and giants, talking dragons, valkyries and werewolves: all these are familiar in modern movies and commercial fantasy. But where did the concepts come from? Who invented them? Almost two centuries ago, Jacob Grimm assembled what was known about such creatures in his work on 'Teutonic Mythology', which brought together ancient texts such as Beowulf and the Elder Edda with the material found in Grimm's own famous collection of fairy-tales. This collection of essays now updates Grimm, adding much material not known in his time, and also challenges his monolithic interpretations, pointing out the diversity of cultural traditions as well as the continuity of ancient myth.” – from the blurb on the back. Tom Shippey is of course the great English scholar and expert on Tolkien. Tolkien’s shadow is never very far away in these essays.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Mythology. Literature. Hardback.

 The Crock of Gold, by James Stephens.

“The Crock of Gold is one of those wild, individual fantasies that were produced before writers decided to get stuck in the furrow that Tolkien had plowed. Hard to describe; it involves a boy and a girl, a philosopher who is an expert on everything but real life, the god Pan, leprechauns, some policemen, and the old gods of Ireland. Concerns humor, adventure, love, and the heart's true calling. And a crock of gold.” This was also one of those summer reads I came back to again and again at the public library. I was delighted when I finally found a more or less exact copy. Illustrations by Thomas Mackenzie.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.