The Fourth Book of Jorkens

Book by Lord Dunsany (1947)

The Fourth Book of Jorkens

Dust-jacket for The Fourth Book of Jorkens by Lord Dunsany

Author| Lord Dunsany
Language| English
Series| Jorkens
Genre| Fantasy
Publisher| Jarrolds

Publication date

| 1947
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print (hardback)
Pages| 176 pp
Preceded by| Jorkens Has a Large Whiskey
Followed by| Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey

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, and two uncollected short stories, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Two, published by Night Shade Books in 2004.

## Contents

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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

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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

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* Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1948 (3,118 copies).

## References

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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.31-32&rft.pub=Starmont+House,+Inc.&rft.date=1989&rft.isbn=1-55742-005-X&rft.aulast=Jaffery&rft.aufirst=Sheldon&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Fourth+Book+of+Jorkens" class="Z3988">
* 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 0-87054-176-5.48-49&rft.pub=Arkham+House&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=0-87054-176-5&rft.aulast=Joshi&rft.aufirst=S.T.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Fourth+Book+of+Jorkens" class="Z3988">
* Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 67–68\. ISBN 0-7864-1785-4.67-68&rft.pub=McFarland+&+Company,+Inc.&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=0-7864-1785-4&rft.aulast=Nielsen&rft.aufirst=Leon&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Fourth+Book+of+Jorkens" class="Z3988">

* v
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Lord Dunsany

List of works

Original
collections|

* The Gods of Pegāna
* Time and the Gods
* The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
* A Dreamer's Tales
* The Book of Wonder
* Fifty-One Tales
* The Last Book of Wonder
* Tales of Three Hemispheres
* The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens
* Jorkens Remembers Africa
* Jorkens Has a Large Whiskey
* The Fourth Book of Jorkens
* The Man Who Ate the Phoenix
* The Little Tales of Smethers and Other Stories
* Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey
* The Last Book of Jorkens

Posthumous
collections|

* At the Edge of the World
* Beyond the Fields We Know
* Over the Hills and Far Away
* The Ghosts of the Heaviside Layer, and Other Fantasms
* Time and the Gods
* The Collected Jorkens
* In the Land of Time, and Other Fantasy Tales

Drama|

* Five Plays
* The Ginger Cat and Other Lost Plays

Novels|

* Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley
* The King of Elfland's Daughter
* The Charwoman's Shadow
* The Curse of the Wise Woman

Poetry|

* Fifty Poems
* Verses Dedicatory

Short stories|

* "Chu-Bu and Sheemish"
* "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth"
* "The Hoard of the Gibbelins"
* "Idle Days on the Yann"

Characters|

* Joseph Jorkens

Related|

* Sidney Sime (preferred artist)
* John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany (father)
* Reginald Drax (brother)
* Dunsany Castle
* Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany (grandson and literary heir)

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