Lord Dunsany, The Lost Tales Series
Dunsany Collectors
We tracked down rare material from the original magazine publications. These stories have never before appeared in book form, but now have been lovingly gathered together and published as The Lost Tales series, available from Pegana Press with the permission of The Dunsany Estate.
Rare Unpublished Material
Besides the previously uncollected works, we were given permission to include some unpublished works from the Castle Archives, as well as rare examples of Sidney Sime‘s watercolor work and an illustration by Lord Dunsany, himself.
We wanted to bring these stories to print in editions, lovingly made. The text for each edition has been hand set with letterpress type, printed on a vintage Vandercook sp15 press, using Hahnemüle laid paper, and then hand bound on site.
We hope you will enjoy these Lost Tales as much as we do.
Commentary from the Curator of Dunsany Castle.
One of the pleasures of my work as the literary curator for Dunsany is the time spent with dedicated publishers and scholars and for the last few years, a key part has been working with Mike (and Rita) to help with the latest volume in the Lost Tales series. This begins with screening for potential material. Mike has done his own research in magazines and newspapers, and then I bring ideas from reading through the grand spreadsheet of Dunsany work I made about 10 years ago, when the archive actually lived high in the attics, near the 18th Lord's writing room. We exchange scans, and Mike applies his publisher's instinct and knowledge of his customers, and narrows down the possibilities. We may go a couple of rounds on this level, also checking for uniqueness against the publishing record and other projects. Meantime Mike and Rita will have worked on design, typeface and paper selection, and layout. And then the amazing process of setting the book begins. This part I can only enjoy from afar, with some awe, as it requires true dedication to the art of printing. I have always loved books, and have a wide range of forms and editions, but the Pegana Press works are among the finest I have handled. Then on to the binding, and eventually, there it is, a new edition for the library at Dunsany Castle... Now, time to place an order for my own personal copy of this latest volume, and relax and look forward to its arrival too.
J. W. Doyle
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Lost Tales Box Set
Volumes 1 - 3 presented as a set in custom hand made slipcase
Handset letterpress printed editions on Hahnemüle paper and handbound on site using double woven cloth on boards.
Containing rare material, retrieved from their original magazine publications, these stories appear in book form for the first time.
Also included are 4 previously unpublished stories, rare gems provided by the Dunsany Estate, as well as artwork by Lord Dunsany (frontispiece in Volume 2) and watercolor by Sidney Sime (frontispiece in Volume 3).
Only two sets remain.
$750.00
Lost Tales Volume 4
Collection of 9 short stories, 8 of which were previously unpublished.
Tales that have been dreaming in Dunsany Castle for 102 years. This new edition of unpublished stories include several intended for the 70 Tales Edition, which became 51 Tales in 1915 due to wartime paper shortages. We present them here for the first time by gracious permission of the Dunsany Estate.
Table of Contents
The Mystery of the Invisible Letters 1947 Unpublished
His Lone Interest 1955 Unpublished
At the Inn of the Two Adventurers 1956 Uncollected
The Cycle of The Gods
The False Gods 1911 Unpublished
The True Gods 1911 Unpublished
The Unknown and the Earth-Gods 1911 Unpublished
A Vision 1912 Unpublished
The House Called Life 1910 Unpublished
Death and the Poet 1909 Unpublished
Included also is a rare watercolor by Sidney Sime 1925 as frontispiece and Introduction by Douglas A. Anderson. Letterpress printed on Hahnemüle laid paper. Hand bound in blue cloth on boards. Ornate letterpress title inset on front and letterpress spine title. 34 pages, limited to 80 hand numbered copies.
Pegana Press 2018
$235
...but above the thunder undisturbed the GODS prepared the things that are to be...
excerpt from THE FALSE GODS 1911.
The Men of Baldfolk
And Other Fanciful Tales
More Lost Tales presented in an ornate edition.
Featuring five previously unpublished stories and four stories never collected in book form ranging from 1908 to 1955. With dark gods and dreaming poets, some really fine material, embellished with an exquisite watercolour Sidney Sime frontispiece not seen in print for 90 years. We wish to express our deepest appreciation to the Dunsany Estate for sharing these incredibly rare pieces from the Dunsany Castle archives.
Contents:
Absurd 1939 Unpublished
The New Look 1953 Unpublished
Gondolas 1908 Uncollected
The Cup 1948 Uncollected
A Taste For Strategy 1955 Uncollected
The Vengeance of Thor 1929 Unpublished
The Tale of The Men of Baldfolk 1925 Unpublished
The Book of Flowery Tales 1917 Unpublished
Pens 1909 Uncollected
Quarter bound fine black silk moire spine with Florentine paper covered boards. Letterpress paper title glued along spine. Stygian black German endpapers surrounding sage green Hahnemühle laid and watermarked paper for the book. Hand type set and letterpress printed by Mike, hand sewn by Rita, and bound by Joel Radcliffe at Ars Obscura of Seattle.
Published with permission from the Dunsany Estate. 35 pages, limited to 80 hand numbered copies.
Pegana Press 2016
$350
...and Thor said to the rest "It is even as we have dreamed. The years have been going by and the ages passing away; Time has been active here, and it grows late on Earth. Unstained and cold are the stones. It is later than we had dreamed."
--Lord Dunsany from The Vengeance of Thor written 1929, previously unpublished. Available from Pegana Press in The Men of Baldfolk & Other Fanciful Tales, in May 2016.
Lost Tales Volume 3
Collection of 3 previously unpublished stories and rare Sime watercolor
Collection of 3 previously unpublished stores, and 4 previously uncollected in book form. 7 stories in all.
Hand set letterpress printed on Hahnemüle laid paper and handbound on site with golden brown cloth on boards. Ornate letterpress title inset on front and letterpress spine title.
Frontispiece by Sidney Sime, a watercolor commissioned by Lord Dunsany and completed in 1926, its first appearance in print in 88 years. Forward by Mike Tortorello.
34 pages, limited to 80 hand numbered copies.
Pegana Press 2014
$350
Lost Tales Volume 2
The Emperor’s Crystal
8 stories retrieved from their original magazine publications and 1 newly discovered unpublished story provided from the Dunsany Estate.
9 stories in all.
Frontispiece by Lord Dunsany. Introduction by Darrell Schweitzer.
Hand set letterpress printed in two color ink on soft grey Hahnemüle laid paper. Hand bound on site with grey cloth on boards. Ornate letterpress title inset on front and letterpress spine title.
34 pages limited to 92 numbered copies.
Pegana Press 2013
The Emperor's Crystal and Other Lost Tales volume 2 by Lord Dunsany
- From magazines like Smart Set and Vanity Fair we bring you seven classic Dunsany stories published between 1915 and 1919. Such intriguing titles as The Greatest Painter In The World, A Walk In The Wastes Of Time, and The House Of The Idol Carvers to name a few.
- The title story-The Emperor's Crystal-appeared in the campus newspaper of Trinity College Dublin in 1920.
- The book ends with The Secret Order, a story written in the spring of 1909, but never before published .
- An original drawing by Lord Dunsany was provided by Dunsany Castle for our frontispiece.
Individual copies sold out. Please refer to the Lost Tales box set listed above to secure a copy.
Lost Tales Volume 1
10 previously uncollected stories from 1909 to 1915...appearing for the first time in book form.
10 previously uncollected stories from 1909 to 1915 retrieved from their original magazine publications and appearing for the first time in book form by approval of the Dunsany Estate. Introduction by Michael Swanwick.
29 pages handset letterpress printed on Hahnemüle paper and hand bound in teal cloth on boards. Ornate letterpress title inset on front cover, and letterpress spine title.
Pegana Press 2012
$250
The Heart of Earth
The Heart Of Earth first appeared in The Saturday Review, London, July 1909. It was one of the stories we at Pegana Press were privileged to add to our collection of previously uncollected works entitled Lost Tales Volume 1 by Lord Dunsany.
It begins thus.
As the poet walked through the moist, grey town thinking of Faëry and imperious Death, he saw the unthought-of pavement, monotonous, wet, clad with dirt, desolate. And, thinking of the long time that they had lain there under unheeding feet, unprotected by soil or grass against the will of the rain, he, being at peace because it was now evening, pitied the old grey stones. And the pavement felt his pity. Every stone felt it; stone told it unto stone for quite a mile. It had been trodden on for two hundred years by dogs as well as men, it had been spat upon and covered with filth, but had not before been pitied.
Deep in it's core it felt the poet's pity; it had felt an earthquake less.
Lord Dunsany shares through his potent writing the ability of creating a portal which transports us into the very setting of the story itself. Anyone who has walked a lonely road lost in thought will recognize this realm. The smell of the wet pavement - rain on stone. The feel of footsteps meandering as the mind follows its own fancy. The power of connection that is the very fabric of reality - that which communicates the feeling of the poet through a network of stone conveying information further down the road.
We are told the poet's thoughts go wandering off into other realms, while the pavement fairly bristles with indignation.
"What is this that dares to pity the heart of Earth? A thing of a few years and the toy of Time!
Is not Earth's heart of the lineage of the stars?..."
And we are allowed audience as the Earth waxes poetic about what it has seen throughout time.
"...What love should Earth's heart have for the hearts of men, who have chosen cities as their foster-mothers, rejecting Earth?..."
Lord Dunsany was a story teller who could make his point in under 1000 words and he wrote a wealth of material in short story format.
The Heart Of Earth appears in Lost Tales Volume 1 published by Pegana Press; by arrangement with the Dunsany Estate. This book contains 10 stories written by Lord Dunsany which have not been in print since their original magazine appearances about 100 years ago.
Available through Pegana Press.
"...Am I not the heart of wandering Earth, child of the sun?
Who? Who has pitied me?..."
Rhymes From A Suburb
A Poem by Edward Plunket
This early work from the pen of Lord Dunsany (before he was Lord Dunsany) was published in Pall Mall Magazine in 1897.
This is his first published poem beautifully presented as a two color broadside with pictorial engraving letterpress printed on Twinrocker handmade paper approximately 7 x 15". Printed using Goudy Franciscan & Friar types.
Pegana Press 2009
Limited to 120 hand numbered copies.
$30.00
Of Note
This Broadside of Lord Dunsany’s first published poem, was the first project printed at Pegana Press.
The Vengeance of Thor
An Audio Book
Tales of Wonder woven with sound to create an immersive listening experience. Stories by Lord Dunsany.