The Fourth Book of Jorkens

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, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Two, published by Night Shade Books in 2004.

The Fourth Book of Jorkens
Dust-jacket for The Fourth Book of Jorkens by Lord Dunsany
AuthorLord Dunsany
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesJorkens
GenreFantasy
PublisherJarrolds
Publication date
1947
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages176 pp
Preceded byJorkens Has a Large Whiskey 
Followed byJorkens Borrows Another Whiskey 

Contents

The Fourth Book of Jorkens contains the following tales:

  1. "Making Fine Weather"
  2. "Mgamu"
  3. "The Haunting of Jalahanstown"
  4. "The Pale-Green Image"
  5. "Jorkens Leaves Prison"
  6. "The Warning"
  7. "The Sacred City of Krakovlitz"
  8. "Jorkens Practices Medicine and Magic"
  9. "Jarton's Disease"
  10. "On the Other Side of the Sun"
  11. "The Rebuff"
  12. "Jorkens' Ride"
  13. "The Secret of the Sphinx"
  14. "The Khamseen"
  15. "The Expulsion"
  16. "The Welcome"
  17. "By Command of Pharaoh"
  18. "A Cricket Problem"
  19. "A Life's Work"
  20. "The Ingratiating Smile"
  21. "The Last Bull"
  22. "The Strange Drug of Dr. Caber"
  23. "A Deal with the Devil"
  24. "Strategy at the Billiards Club"
  25. "Jorkens in Witch Wood"
  26. "Lost"
  27. "The English Magnifico"
  28. "The Cleverness of Dr. Caber"
  29. "Fairy Gold"
  30. "A Royal Dinner"
  31. "A Fight With Knives"
  32. "Out West"
  33. "In a Dim Room"

Reception

Fletcher Pratt, writing in The New York Times, described the collection as "Dunsany in twilight", saying that even in the least successful stories, "the execution is so smooth that one does not realize until after the punch line that there was not much of a story after all."[1] Sam Moskowitz characterized the stories as "written by an older Dunsany who has ceased to dream, but whose imagination is keener and pen more adroit than ever before."[2] Amazing Stories reviewer Morris Tish noted that while the stories were "written with the distinctive style that has made Dunsany famous in English literature", the cumulative effect was likely to be "a bit wearisome" for many readers.[3]

Reprints
  • Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1948 (3,118 copies).
gollark: I corrected it to "the confidence belonging to the keyboard" which is what you probably meant. Because that's what "its [the keyboard's] confidence" means.
gollark: It's personification, totally valid.
gollark: "its confidence" meaning "the confidence belonging to the keyboard" seems to fit better.
gollark: I assumed you meant "the confidence of the keyboard" and not "lose it is confidence".
gollark: "Its" is an, er, possessive adjective.

References
  1. "In The Key of Fantasy", New York Times Book Review, 7 November 1948, p.32
  2. "Fantasy Book Reviews", Fantastic Novels, July 1950, p.107
  3. "Great Books in Science Fiction", Amazing Stories, December 1949, p.107
  • Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 31.
  • Jaffery, Sheldon (1989). The Arkham House Companion. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. pp. 31–32. ISBN 1-55742-005-X.
  • Joshi, S. T. (1993). Lord Dunsany: a Bibliography / by S. T. Joshi and Darrell Schweitzer. Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 27. ISBN 0-8108-2714-X.
  • Joshi, S.T. (1999). Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. pp. 48–49. ISBN 0-87054-176-5.
  • Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 67–68. ISBN 0-7864-1785-4.
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