The Last Book of Jorkens is a collection of fantasyshort stories concerning the character Joseph Jorkens created by writer Lord Dunsany. First prepared for publication in early 1957, it was left unpublished on Dunsany's death later that year, and lost in the family archives.[1] Rediscovered in 2001, it was finally issued in a limited first special edition in 2002, and become widely available only on its inclusion (together with the preceding book, Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey and three other short stories), in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Three, issued by Night Shade Books in April 2005.
The collection has an introduction by the Dunsany curator, J.W. Doyle, who gives some background to the collection, which he discovered at Dunsany Castle in early 2001 (also in the 2000s finding an unpublished novel, poems and a few plays and other stories), and its existence seems to have been a surprise.[2] The cover illustration is a full-bleed reproduction of a rare coloured Sidney Sime work, one of three on the walls of Dunsany Castle, which originally illustrated one of the early Jorkens stories.
While most early Jorkens was magazine-published, and then collected, many of the stories in this volume appear to have been for book publication only, and so had not been seen in any form, and were something new for Dunsany fans. Under special provisions in law for first-published material in some countries, such stories enjoy extended copyright protection (in the USA until 2047, for example, or 2052 in Russia and Canada).[3]
The Last Book of Jorkens was the sixth and last collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published. Despite the title (agreed by the publishers and the literary estate, as the author had not agreed a title with the potential publishers in the 1950s, the collection being referenced in house records only as "Some Further Adventures"), it did not include all of his previously uncollected Jorkens stories, four having been omitted, mostly from the earlier collections, and one more written after this final collection was prepared for publication. These stories were finally brought together with the rest of the Jorkens tales in The Collected Jorkens; two of them in Volume Two, and the remaining three, including Dunsany's last Jorkens story, written within months of his death, in Volume Three.
The book collects twenty-two short pieces by Dunsany.
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime, and a modest amount of material was published posthumously. He gained a name in the 1910s as a great writer in the English-speaking world. Best known today are the 1924 fantasy novel, The King of Elfland's Daughter, and his first book, The Gods of Pegāna, which depicts a fictional pantheon. Many critics feel his early work laid grounds for the fantasy genre.
Dangerous Visions is a science fiction short story anthology edited by American writer Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It was published in 1967.
Francis Edward Ledwidge was a 20th-century Irish poet. From Slane, County Meath, and sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he was later also known as a First World War war poet. He befriended the established writer Lord Dunsany, who helped with publication of his works. He was killed in action at Ypres in 1917.
Karl Edward Wagner was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. He wrote numerous dark fantasy and horror stories. As an editor, he created a three-volume set of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian fiction restored to its original form as written, and edited the long-running and genre-defining The Year's Best Horror Stories series for DAW Books. His Carcosa publishing company issued four volumes of the best stories by some of the major authors of the so-called Golden Age pulp magazines. He is possibly best known for his creation of a series of stories featuring the character Kane, the Mystic Swordsman.
Tales from the White Hart is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, in the "club tales" style.
Tales from Gavagan's Bar is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, illustrated by the latter's wife Inga Pratt. It was first published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953; an expanded edition rearranging the contents and adding pieces not in the first was published in hardcover by Owlswick Press in June 1978. The original illustrations were retained in this edition. It was subsequently issued in paperback by Bantam Books in January 1980. An e-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. The collection has also been published in German.
The Fourth Book of Jorkens is a collection of fantasy short stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens, by writer Lord Dunsany. It was first published by Jarrolds in 1947. It was the fourth collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published. It has also been issued in combination with the third book, Jorkens Has a Large Whiskey, and two uncollected short stories, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Two, published by Night Shade Books in 2004.
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.
Verses Dedicatory: 18 Previously Unpublished Poems is a collection of poetry by fantasy author Lord Dunsany, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback as a chapbook by Charnel House as no. 2 in The Charnel House Chapbooks Series in 1985.
Tales of Three Hemispheres is a collection of fantasy short stories by Lord Dunsany. The first edition was published in Boston by John W. Luce & Co. in November, 1919; the first British edition was published in London by T. Fisher Unwin in June, 1920.
Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey is a collection of fantasy short stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens, by writer Lord Dunsany. It was first published in London by Michael Joseph in 1954. It was the fifth collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published. It has also been issued in combination with the sixth book, The Last Book of Jorkens, and three other short stories, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Three, published by Night Shade Books in 2005.
The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens is a collection of fantasy short stories by writer Lord Dunsany. It was first published in London by G. P. Putnam's Sons in April, 1931, with the American edition following in September of the same year from the same publisher. It was the first collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published. It has also been issued in combination with the second book, Jorkens Remembers Africa, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume One, published by Night Shade Books in 2004.
Jorkens Remembers Africa is a collection of fantasy short stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens, by writer Lord Dunsany. It was first published in New York City by Longmans, Green & Co. in October, 1934, with the English edition following in November of the same year from the same publisher. It was the second collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published. It has also been issued in combination with the first book, The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume One, published by Night Shade Books in 2004.
Jorkens Has a Large Whiskey is a collection of fantasy short stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens, by writer Lord Dunsany. It was first published in London by Putnam in September, 1940. It was the third collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published. It has also been issued in combination with the fourth book, The Fourth Book of Jorkens, and two uncollected short stories, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Two, published by Night Shade Books in 2004.
Joseph Jorkens is the lead character in over 150 short stories written between 1925 and 1957 by the Irish author Lord Dunsany, noted for his fantasy short stories, fantastic plays, novels and other writings. The Jorkens stories, primarily fantasy but also including elements of adventure, mystery and science fiction literature, have been collected in a series of six books, and were a key inspiration for the "fantastic club tale" type of short story.
In the Land of Time and Other Fantasy Tales is a posthumous collection of short stories by the writer Lord Dunsany, in the Penguin Classics series. Edited and with an introduction by S. T. Joshi, it assembles material from across Dunsany's long career. The cover illustration is a colourised version of a classic illustration for an early Dunsany story by his preferred artist, Sidney Sime.
The Collected Jorkens is a three-volume omnibus collection of fantasy short stories by author Lord Dunsany and issued by Night Shade Books, then of Portland, Oregon.
The Ghosts of the Heaviside Layer, and Other Fantasms is a collection of ghost stories, essays and plays by Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, edited by Darrell Schweitzer and illustrated by Tim Kirk. It was first published in hardcover by Owlswick Press in 1980.
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