Books

With Illustrations in Photogravure by S.H. Sime. London: Elkin Mathews, 1905. Original light brown paper-covered boards pictorially decorated in dark brown, with tan burlap spine lettered in black. First Edition of this Anglo-Irish fantasy writer's first book. These tales take place in the mythological world of Pegana, which Dunsany himself created -- right from the beginning illustrated with the amazing mystical images of Sidney Sime. Dunsany had to pay for the publication of this book, then earning a commission on each copy sold; its success made it so that he did not have to employ this arrangement again. Critics label this as one of the foundational books of the modern fantasy genre. This is a near-fine copy (front endpaper cracked else fine) -- remarkable because its binding is of paper-covered boards. Loosely inserted is the clipped autograph signature of Sidney H. Sime. Currey p. 170; Bleiler 573 ("Written in a heavily rhythmical style, with obvious relationship to the King James Bible; in ideology, often close to Hinduism. as a whole THE GODS OF PEGANA is a convincing, marvelous creation of an alien cosmology").

Lord Dunsany's 'The Gods of Pegāna' is a foundational text in the fantasy genre, introducing readers to the gods of Pegāna and their mythos.