The Chronicles of Rodriguez by Dunsany, Lord (Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany) - 1922: Signed Limited Edition

First edition, number 28 of a limited edition of 500. Signed by both Lord Dunsany and Sydney H. Sime. G. P. Putnam's Sons. London. 1922. Quarto. (6), 322pp. Tissue guarded frontispiece, signed by the artist Sydney H. Sime. Preface signed by Dunsany. Quarter vellum, cloth. Leather label, gilt lettering a little faded, date and rules. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. Edges untrimmed, unopened from p.50 onwards, so mostly unread. Small corner loss p.30/31, due to uneven opening, text unaffected. Occasional light spotting. Vellum slightly darkened to spine, minor corner rubbing, light shelf wear. A nice copy of the author's first novel.

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, FRSL (1878-1957) Anglo Irish writer whose fantasy works were precursors of the genre, influencing writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Arthur C. Clarke and L. Sprague de Camp. The Chronicles of Rodriguez is Dunsany's first novel, illustrated by his chosen artist Sydney Sime (1865-1941), sometime owner of 'The Idler' who also illustrated Arthur Machen's House of Souls. Dunsany and Sime's symbiotic association lasted many years.

"After long and patient research I am still unable to give to the reader of these Chronicles the exact date of the times that they tell of. Were it merely a matter of history there could be no doubts about the period; but where magic is concerned, to however slight an extent, there must always be some element of mystery, arising partly out of ignorance and partly from the compulsion of those oaths by which magic protects its precincts from the tiptoe of curiosity.

Moreover, magic, even in small quantities, appears to affect time, much as acids affect some metals, curiously changing its substance, until dates seem to melt into a mercurial form that renders them elusive even to the eye of the most watchful historian.

It is the magic appearing in Chronicles III and IV that has gravely affected the date, so that all I can tell the reader with certainty of the period is that it fell in the later years of the Golden Age in Spain." ...

"Then Rodriguez stepped back a short way and placed his kerchief on the ground; and upon this he put his mandolin and leaned it against the wall. When the mandolin was safe from dust or accident he approached the stranger and drew his sword.
'Señor," he said, "we will now discuss music.'
'Right gladly, señor,' said the young man, who now drew his sword also. There were no clouds, the moon was full; the evening promised well."