Irish writer Edward J. M. D. Plunkett (1878–1957), the eighteenth Baron Dunsany, was one of English literature's most original talents. The author of many of the best fantastic tales in the language, he was also a great influence on other writers of the genre. American novelist H. P. Lovecraft wrote: "[Dunsany's] rich language, his cosmic point of view, his remote dream-worlds, and his exquisite sense of the fantastic, all appeal to me more than anything else in modern literature." These 33 tales by one of the grand masters of fantasy contain all of the stories from two of Dunsany's finest collections—The Book of Wonder and Tales of Wonder—including the famous "The Three Sailors' Gambit," possibly the best chess story ever written; "The House of the Sphinx," "The Wonderful Window," "The Bad Old Woman in Black," "The Watch-Tower," "The Three Infernal Jokes," "The Secret of the Sea," and 26 other literary gems.