The Book of Wonder and the Last Book of Wonder - Books That Inspired Tolkien: With Original Illustrations

THE BOOK OF WONDER AND THE LAST BOOK OF WONDER – A BOOK THAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN. With original illustrations. THE PROFESSOR’S BOOKSHELF #8.Lord Dunsany wrote more than eighty books during his career in the early 20th Century. Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, enjoyed reading Dunsany’s works - a fact which he acknowledged numerous times in his letters. Tolkien was twenty years old in 1912, when ‘The Book of Wonder’, illustrated by Sidney Sime, first appeared in British bookshops and libraries. The short stories in this book are Gothic in style, poetic, mysterious and dream-like - often nightmarish, horrific and almost hallucinatory. Numerous accoutrements of fantasy are found within the realms of ‘The Book of Wonder and The Last Book of Wonder’, as they are in Middle-earth; talismans, precious metals, jewels, signalling horns, dark, dangerous woods infested with evil spiders and more. A red, glowing, all-seeing eye opens above Dunsany’s frightening fantasyland, just as the Eye of Sauron glares across Middle Earth. This edition is ornamented with the original pictures printed in the 1912 edition - sixteen intricate illustrations and numerous ornate initial capitals by renowned fantasy artist Sidney Sime. Dart-Thornton’s introduction discusses intriguing links between Dunsany’s and Tolkien’s works, noting also that in an unusual twist, Dunsany used to write his stories based on Sime’s illustrations, rather than the other way around. Dale J Nelson, in ‘Possible Echoes of Blackwood and Dunsany in Tolkien's Fantasy’, concludes, ‘Tolkien’s letters and other sources for his life do not say very much about his recreational reading, but given his lifelong interest in literary fantasy and the parallels adduced above, one seems to be justified in suspecting that Tolkien was indebted to … Dunsany.’

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (24 July 1878 - 25 October 1957) was an Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes many hundreds of published short stories, as well as successful plays, novels and essays. The stories in his first two books, and perhaps the beginning of his third, were set within an invented world, Pegāna, with its own gods, history and geography. Starting with this book, Dunsany's name is linked to that of Sidney Sime, his chosen artist, who illustrated much of his work, notably until 1922.

Sidney Sime (1867 - 22 May 1941, often SH Sime) was an English artist in the late Victorian and succeeding periods, mostly remembered for his fantastic and satirical artwork, especially his story illustrations for Irish author Lord Dunsany. Sime was born in Manchester in poverty. After a five-year career in the mines, including as a "scoop pusher," work at a linen shop, a barbers, and as a signwriter (setting up in his own right), he studied at the Liverpool School of Art (later "College", then joined the University of Liverpool in 1952). During his time at college, he won a South Kensington medal. He is sometimes called "the biggest thing to come out of Liverpool before the Beatles." Sime quickly became famous for drawings and illustrations with fantastic themes, with a presence in Pick-Me-Up, The Idler and the Pall Mall Gazette. The fantastic treatment often masked biting satire, especially aimed at the rich and at politicians. He received an inheritance after an uncle died and bought The Idler, but the business failed in under two years. In 1904, Sime was approached by the author for whom he is most often remembered, Irish aristocrat Lord Dunsany, to illustrate his first book, The Gods of Pegana, finally published in 1905. This began an association which lasted for the rest of his life, with his illustrations especially prominent in Dunsany's earlier work (until c. 1922). For one volume, at least some of the stories were inspired by Sime works (The Book of Wonder), and for three, in special limited editions, each plate of illustration was signed by both author and artist. [Wikipedia]

Cecilia Dart-Thornton is a highly acclaimed fantasy author whose books are popular across the globe and translated into several languages. Notable works include The Bitterbynde Trilogy.