Baron Dunsany was born in London in 1878, the scion of an Anglo-Irish family that could trace its ancestry to the twelfth century. During his life Dunsany distinguished himself as both an author and a dramatist, he once had five plays running concurrently on Broadway, and is now recognised as a leading figure in the development of modern fantasy literature. His works include The Book of Wonder (1912), Plays of Gods and Men (1917) and The Curse of the Wise Woman (1933). S.T. Joshi is a freelance writer and editor who has previously edited Penguin Classics editions of The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories (2001) and Ancient Sorceries and Other Strange Stories (2002). Amongst his other published titles are Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination (1995) and The Modern Weird Tale (2001). He currently lives in Seattle, Washington.