Folio’s fabulous centenary edition of The King of Elfland’s Daughter, a founding text of the fantasy genre by Lord Dunsany, features an introduction by Erin Morgenstern, a foreword by Neil Gaiman and original artwork by Julie Dillon. Limited to 500 numbered copies, this first ever fully illustrated edition has been signed by both the introducer and the illustrator.

‘Captivating in its richness and complexity, mesmerising in its thoughtfulness and its language. A tale more vivid than any number of similar stories that came before or after.’

Erin Morgenstern, from her introduction

Journeying beyond ‘the fields we know’ to the ageless realm of Elfland, a young prince must win the heart of Lirazel, the King of Elfland’s daughter – but the laws of time and nature work strangely between these two worlds, offering a warning to those who seek magic too readily. This centenary edition celebrates a founding novel of the fantasy genre – one whose prose and poetry, whose unicorns and witches and trolls, would inspire authors from J.R.R Tolkien to Ursula K. Le Guin. 

Quarter-bound in indigo leather blocked with silver foil, this superb edition features eight original colour illustrations, along with stunning endpapers depicting a unicorn hunt, by multiple Hugo and Locus award-winning fantasy artist Julie Dillon, who also contributes a striking print of the Princess of Elfland. An exclusive introduction by Erin Morgenstern and an insightful foreword by Neil Gaiman complete this grand and dreamlike fairy tale for adults. Strictly limited to 500 hand-numbered copies, this pillar of the fantastic, an inspiration for the whole fantasy genre, has been signed by both artist and introducer on a letterpress-printed limitation tip.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies 

Introduced by Erin Morgenstern 

Illustrated by Julie Dillon 

Letterpress printed limitation tip signed by the introducer and the artist 

Quarter-bound in leather blocked in silver foil 

Cloth sides printed and blocked with a design by the artist 

Set in Barbou with Mason Serif as display 

248 pages of text printed on Abbey Pure paper 

Frontispiece and 8 illustrations printed on Natural Evolution paper  

Endpapers printed with a design by the artist on Stardream silver paper 

Silvered pages edges 

Ribbon marker 

Cloth-covered slipcase printed and blocked with a design by the artist 

11½˝ x 8˝

BEFORE TOLKIEN THERE WAS DUNSANY

‘This is the type of story-treasure I always seek and rarely find.’

Erin Morgenstern, from her introduction

Written by Anglo-Irish author and playwright Lord Dunsany (the pen name of Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the 18th Baron Dunsany), The King of Elfland’s Daughter became a major influence in fantasy literature, inspiring writers throughout the 20th century and beyond from Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, to Lovecraft, Gaiman and Le Guin. Dunsany’s distinctive combination of lyrical prose and mythic storytelling is a tone perfectly captured by Julie Dillon’s ethereal artwork, including spellbinding images for this edition’s endpapers and frontispiece, and a cover design blocked with swirling silver and metallic blue. Presented in a moonlight-blue slipcase adorned with gleaming stars and a portrait of Lirazel, this centenary edition of The King of Elfland’s Daughter is a fitting tribute to a novel that defined a literary genre.

BIOGRAPHIES

About Lord Dunsany

Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) was a prolific novelist, playwright and author of short stories and a pioneering figure in modern fantasy literature. Born into a wealthy Anglo-Irish aristocratic family, Dunsany studied at Eton and Sandhurst and fought in the Boer War and the First World War. He taught in Greece for a time, before settling on his estate in Kent. Dunsany was deeply involved in the Irish Literary Revival, promoting and supporting the work of his fellow writers. His best-known fictions involve imagined lands with a complex pantheon of deities – remarkable fantasy stories from a time before the genre even had a name.

About Julie Dillon

Julie Dillon is an illustrator from the Pacific Northwest, whose clients include major book publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Tor, Penguin and HarperCollins. Since graduating in fine arts from Sacramento State University in 2005 her work has won numerous awards, including a Hugo for best professional artist, as well as Locus and British Fantasy awards for best artist.

About Erin Morgenstern

Erin Morgenstern is a writer and artist whose debut, The Night Circus, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel as well as an Alex Award from the American Library Association, and was translated into more than a dozen foreign languages; it was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best fantasy books of all time. Morgenstern is the author most recently of The Starless Sea. She was raised in Massachusetts and studied theater at Smith College; she now lives in the Berkshires.

About Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is a critically acclaimed writer of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His many notable works include the groundbreaking series Sandman (the first comic book to win a literary award, the 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story), and the novels Good Omens (1990, in collaboration with Terry Pratchett), Stardust (1999), American Gods (2001, The Folio Society 2017; winner of the Hugo Award and Nebula Award for Best Novella, and a Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers),  Anansi Boys (2005, The Folio Society 2019) and Neverwhere (1996, The Folio Society 2022). Gaiman also wrote introductions to Folio editions of Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun (2020) and Mervyn Peake’s The Gormenghast Trilogy (2022, 2024). Credited with being one of the creators of modern comics, Gaiman is an author whose work crosses many genres and reaches audiences of all ages. His most recent publication is What You Need To Be Warm (2020).