Fifty-One Tales

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. The first editions, in hardcover, were published simultaneously in London and New York City by Elkin Mathews and Mitchell Kennerley, respectively, in April 1915. The British and American editions differ in that they arrange the material slightly differently and that each includes a story the other omits; 'The Poet Speaks with Earth' in the British version, and 'The Mist' in the American version.The collection’s significance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by its republication (as The Food of Death: Fifty-One Tales) by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the third volume of the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library in September 1974. The Newcastle edition used the American version of the text.The book collects fifty-one short stories by the author.Lord Dunsany earned literary fame through his otherworldly short stories. This book compiles fifty-one of them, without a seeming theme except that they’re extremely short-sometimes as short as a few paragraphs. The stories range from morality tales, to dreamlike vignettes, to gloomy prophecies told in a foreboding voice. A thread of bleak humor sometimes runs through them, like with much of Dunsany’s literary output.Fifty-One Tales was published simultaneously in England and America, with each edition featuring a story that the other did not.