DUNSANY, Lord. Time and the Gods. With Ten Illustrations in Photogravure by S.H. Sime. London & NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922. 4to, [xiv] 232pp. Brown cloth with white quarter vellum stamped in gilt and having a leather spine label stamped in gilt. Marbled endpapers; 10 photogravure plates. Corners slightly bumped, spine ends a tad rubbed, else a remarkably clean, bright, near fine copy in the original pictorial dust jacket (light wear to spine ends and creased at upper edge, due to jacket being – for some unknown reason – a quarter-inch taller than the book). Signed by Lord Dunsany with a quill on the preface and signed by the artist, Sidney Sime on all 10 plates.

Signed limited edition, being #81/250. Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, known to his readers as Lord Dunsany, was one of the progenitors of the modern fantasy novel. Building on his first published work The Gods of Pegaña, Dunsany crafted these short stories involving the elaborate pantheon of deities who lived in his invented world. Highlighted by Sidney Sime’s gorgeous illustrations, this is a masterwork of early fantasy and the author’s second book.